Even the pictures are better this time. This is Samir Nasri after opening the scoring. (Arsenal.com)

Thank God for Cesc Fabregas.

The Arsenal FC side played a UEFA Champions League qualifier match against the Dutch team FC Twente on Wednesday afternoon, and they looked completely different from the listless, undisciplined, and just straight-up bad performance they put forth last Saturday against Fulham.

First of all, and most importantly in the short term, they won the match going away, with a 4-0 score. They won the two-leg qualifier by a 6-0 aggregate (they won the first leg 2-0 on August 13). They scored just before the half, and were basically in complete control from there on. By winning, Arsenal qualified into the group stage of the Champions League.

In the long run, though, if Arsenal are to win anything this year, the way they won will end up to be most important, if they sustain that style of play.

Against FC Twente, they looked far sharper in all phases of the game, but possibly the most striking difference was in their passing. Unlike against Fulham, where it was sloppy and often off the mark, Arsenal's ball movement was crisp and precise, with few real noticeable errors. There were even a few really clever plays, including several backward heel passes, one of which led directly to a goal and another of which nearly did.

The other big change was the back defense. Against Fulham, the one goal scored was because of an enormous blunder by defender William Gallas (and a slightly smaller, but still egregious mistake by fellow defender Gael Clichy) on a Fulham corner kick. Against FC Twente, they were nearly flawless. Each ball into the box was immediately met with a challenge and cleared out. Each corner kick (and there were few) was first touched by an Arsenal defender. Passes were challenged, pressure was applied, and the result was a clean sheet. To be honest, keeper Manuel Almunia was rarely even tested.

There were a few breakdowns. In the 64th minute, Clichy committed an utterly moronic foul at the top of the box that led to a free kick that led directly to a Twente corner kick -- so essentially, the one foul (which was totally pointless) led to two set pieces. There were foul-ups on offense as well -- there were two separate instances in which Arsenal had wide-open runs at the goal, and failed to score. One was a poor shot, the other too much hesitancy that allowed the defense to recover. However, those were really minor problems in this case (though against Manchester United, that might be a whole other story).

And what was the big difference between Wednesday and Saturday? Well, beside the site of the game and the fact that manager Arsene Wenger most likely tore the squad a new one after Fulham, it was the presence of the man, the myth, the legend; the recently minted European champion; the one, the only, Cesc Fabregas.

In all seriousness, though, Fabregas' return from injury was a real shot in the arm for Arsenal. It allowed players who had been out of position in his absence to return to their natural spots. His veteran presence most likely had an effect on the tenor of the team's play. And beside all that, he's a damn good player.

All in all, FC Twente was just outclassed by Arsenal, and it showed in every phase of the game. This match looked the way the Fulham match should have. Now, the Gunners will need to make sure they carry this method of play back into league play -- or else they could be in a deep hole very quickly.