Adebayor promises more from Arsenal pairing

'Great partnership'
The Togo forward and Dutch colleague Van Persie each struck twice in the 4-0 defeat of the Portuguese champions, a result that placed Arsenal FC top of Group G with four points from two matches. If a combined haul of four goals were not sufficient a statement of intent, Adebayor added: "We have a great partnership and we have the same ambition to help this team to win something. We showed today that we can do something together."

Dynamic duo
Although Porto's team included a substitute called Hulk, it was Arsenal's dynamic duo who caught the eye on a rainy night in north London. Not only did each net one of the two first-half goals that established the platform for a resounding win, but they also provided their partner with an assist. After Adebayor had sprung the offside trap to tee up Van Persie's opener, the latter returned the compliment with a corner straight to the head of the towering Togolese. "The most important thing is we are working hard for the team and I am very pleased the way we played. I gave him a pass, he gave me a pass," said the 24-year-old Adebayor, who went on to complete the scoring with a second-half penalty after Van Persie had made it three.

'More to come'
Van Persie has now scored five goals this term – only four short of his entire total for the 2007/08, much of which he missed through injury. Adebayor added: "I am very happy now he is fit. He is looking great and scoring a lot of good goals and we are just enjoying playing together up front. There is more to come – we are getting to know each other better and understand better how each other plays."

Confidence boost
If that gives hope to a player with a self-declared "target to win the championship with this club" after signing a new contract in the summer, so does the general display by an Arsenal team who provided the perfect response to last weekend's home defeat by Hull City AFC. "We started well and to win 4-0 will bring our confidence back and help us mentally," said Adebayor. "We just want to keep going now. We have hard games to come and we need to be focused like tonight. I don't think we were nervous, we were quite calm. When we are at home we know we are going to keep the ball on the ground and play our football and have a lot of chances. We did that well and are very pleased with our performance."