Theo Walcott came on late again to come to the rescue as this win puts us top of our group table and means we only need a point against Porto for qualification to the next round. Rafael van der Vaart scored a great goal to put them in the lead, but we held our composure well.
Van Persie cancelled out Hamburg’s one goal lead just after the break then Hleb made a smart run and cracked his shot off the bar (as did Fabregas) but later Walcott came off the bench and played a big part in Eboue and Baptista scoring our 2nd and 3rd in the last seven minutes of the match. I do hope Walcott gets the chance to start matches soon, but with him having such an influential role coming on late so many times, you cannot overlook the occasional reasoning to have him come on late in the hope that he is the deciding difference.
Henry will miss our crucial next match due to a frustrating third booking of the competition (a direct result of Hamburg pulling his shirt left and right), but even so, our fate is now in our own hands now, and I look forward to a sturdy performance against Porto on the 6th of December.
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