Starting XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Elneny, Ramsey, Wilshere, Welbeck, Ozil, Lacazette
Subs: Macey, Mertesacker, Kolasinac, Holding, Chambers, Nelson, Nketiah
Arsenal will be in Friday’s draw for the Europa League semi-finals after they came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw against CSKA Moscow that saw them through 6-3 in aggregate.
On a nervy night for the Gunners, goals either side of the break from Chalov and Nabakin gave the home side a sniff of an unlikely comeback.
Those dreams were extinguished with 15 minutes remaining as Danny Welbeck scored a fine individual goal before Aaron Ramsey grabbed an equaliser right at the death.
First half
Given the first-leg lead, Arsenal were understandably cautious in their build-up play in the opening stages. More often than not we looked for a safe sideways pass rather than a penetrating ball. Unfortunately, restraint quickly bred sloppiness, particularly from the two centre-backs Koscielny and Mustafi. Tentative moves broke down all too regularly, nobody taking responsibility for the types of runs that make space for others.
If there was a positive from the opening 20 minutes, it’s that CSKA offered very little in the final third. Like Arsenal they couldn’t muster an attempt on target and were ponderous in possession. For a team chasing three goals there was a distinct lack of urgency to match the dearth of quality.
On 27 minutes, a flurry of action. Koscielny blocked a Dzagoev shot and from the resulting break Ozil and Welbeck fiddled the ball to Lacazette whose shot was deflected over Akinfeev’s bar. From the resulting corner Mustafi endured a nasty clash of heads with one of the Berezutsky twins. Both men climbed from the turf to tell the tale.
A lack of ruthlessness was a hallmark of our play. First Welbeck put too much on a pass to Ramsey, then Welshman failed to pick out a red shirt when he found himself darting into the penalty area.
Seven minutes before the break, CSKA broke the deadlock. A cross into the box was met at the back post by Nabakin’s head. Cech made a fine stop but from the rebound, the ball was tapped home by Chalov. You have to ask why Mustafi just stood watching the action unfold in front of him. (1-0)
More bad news was to follow as Aaron Ramsey went down and had to go off for treatment. Rather than make a substitution, the Gunners laboured on with ten men for a few minutes. No sooner had he returned to the fray, sock clearly bloodied, midfield cohort Wilshere went down injured clutching his ankle.
In between, there was more pressure from the home side. Bistrovic fired a first time effort from a corner just over the crossbar and Musa went down in the box. His claim was a penalty was rightly waved away.
CSKA ended the half calling for another penalty when Ramsey’s arm made contact with the ball. It would have been harsh but you’ve seen them given. A rattled Arsenal looked very grateful for the whistle.
Second half
Mohamed Elneny dropped back into defence for the start of the second period as we reverted to a five-man backline, presumably to sure things up.
A nice break that started with Lacazette and Ozil moving the ball from the touchline to Wilshere ended with Welbeck fluffing a pass to Ramsey who’d made a burst between the CSKA defence. Wenger went mad on the touchline.
To rub salt in the wound, CSKA went up the other end and doubled their lead. A shot by Golovin from 35-yards was parried by Cech and again the rebound was swept home, this time by Nabakin. (2-0)
Our passivity continued to invite pressure from the home side. Golovin, scorer of a great free-kick in the first-leg, tried his luck from another set piece forcing Cech into a decent stop.
Elneny temporarily moved back into midfield and promptly had a goal ruled out for offside. He’d produced a great header from a Bellerin cross but the flag, rightly, went up.
Wilshere, who looked terribly off the pace, was replaced by Chambers as we again reverted to a five man defence. This time on a more formal basis. The England international seemed to point to his ankle as he trudged off.
Koscielny had a chance on 68 minutes to take the sting out of CSKA’s momentum but his effort from a corner was slashed over.
At the other end, Ignashevich smashed a shot just wide. Time seemed to stand still as it flashed past the despairing dive of Cech.
With 15 minutes remaining, Danny Welbeck finally produced the moment of quality that Arsene Wenger had been hoping for. The England international spun on a sixpence to bamboozle a defender on the left wing, he promptly drove towards the box, played a one-two with Elneny and with just the keeper to beat he curled into the top corner. What a goal it was. Thierry Henry-level stuff from Danny. He was mobbed by his teammates. (2-1)
The goal left the home side needing to score twice to take the game to extra-time. Lacazette was replaced by Iwobi as the formation switch to 5-4-1 before the re-start. CSKA looked deflated. Arsenal looked calmer on the ball.
Iwobi really should have levelled things on the night as he was played through on goal on the counter. With only the keeper to beat he took his shot first time and screwed it wide with his left foot. It was the type of effort you’d expect to see in an under-7s game.
In stoppage time, Akinfeev denied Welbeck a second with a decent stop but he couldn’t do anything moments later as Ramsey clipped home an equaliser at the death. (2-2)
So we’re into the semi-finals and our dream of a first European trophy since 1994 and qualification for next season’s Champions League goes on. It’s not too bad this Europa League lark. We’ll have to pit our wits against Salzburg, Marseille or Atletico Madrid.
Elneny you beauty ❤
He has to start semi’s over jack wilshere.
Never in doubt !!
2 assists, a tireless shift….he was really good! Sadly the same can’t be said of Jack the Lad, who seems woefully so out of form. We made hard work of it, but thankfully we are through, which is all that counts!
He played every position tonight from CB to no10, earning every penny of that new contract. What a performance.
That pass though! I’m still masturbating over the perfect weight on it.
So, you’ve been masturbating for about 15-20 minutes now. That happens when I get drunk, and then I usually fall asleep with my sad limp penis in my hands.
omg
Welbeck will teach you how to finish
He shoots! He scores! He reaches for some tissues.
Not going to happen. When I’ve had that much whiskey, I might as well be rubbing my big toe. My wife doesn’t even bother waking me up these days. Just closes my laptop for me and trudges off to bed.
“wife”
Either that or pass you off to someone else to take the blame.
Wasn’t allowed to downvote my own comment.
Ok i’m done now. Adding that video to my collection.
2 great assists plus tireless pressing and defending … leading by example Elneny ….
Wilshere’s been quite shit since last month or so now.. falls everytime someone touches him and keeps losing possession. He needs to be dropped.
Man of the match for me
Elneny – the Egyptian Mesut Ozil!
Mesut Ozil – the German Elneny
Lol — but a great aspiration!
Castaignos: English papers were saying that CSKA were the worst team to play at the Emirates other than
Lalas: Other than Arsenal?
Bure banter. Love it.
Lalas graduated from my high school. Bit of a legend here.
Had to stream the game and the first one I found had Robbie Savage on commentary. NOPE! Next one I found had Alexei Lalas so I caught that bit of banter.
Absolutely love how the other guy goes “oh come on” as soon as Lalas said it like, “you can’t banter a team off while you’re doing commentary on their game”. But it was bloody funny and they were pretty good all game.
Welbz looking good finishing with his… foot?
It seems to go in when he does that!
I looked up advanced stats and he has a slightly better rate of scoring with his left ear.
Probably a small sample size though. Oh wait, no, that’s our Welbz. It’s happened plenty of times.
Elneny are you Ozil in disguise?
No Elneny also plays when we don’t have the ball.
Not ? % true, but a good laugh!
Elneny > Salah
Go and debate with your drunk dad if you disagree.
Elneny was massive today.. unfortunately, only he was..
No love for Welbeck’s best game of the year? Chambers was also solid in relief.
I thought Cech had a few good stops as well.
Just a quick note on Elneny.. what a fucking signing he is turning out to be. £5m or so well spent.
Yes, he had two brilliant assists and a goal (rightly) judged offside, but what I love about him was showcased in around the 87th minute, where he SPRINTED and pressed two players by himself for a good 10-15 seconds straight, stifling an attack and forcing them to play back to their keeper.
Thank fuck he’s renewed
why would anyone downvote this?
For the love of variety?
Because the person who did it is obviously a shit bastard.
It’s got tonbe santori.
That’s how terrorism began
not to rain on the parade but Elneny actually cost more than £5 million. The price was around £10 million https://news.arseblog.com/2016/01/report-elneny-fee-much-higher-than-reported/ Transfermarkt also reports the same. Anyways, I think people usually underrate Elneny because he didn’t cost much but anyone would appreciate that he’s been more than value for money. In this age, if you didn’t cost more than £30m apparently you can’t be any good which is telling when you considering how much we paid for Xhaka.
He only played cos ‘Xhaha or whatever his name is was not fit’ Wenger has hardly used him in 2 years.
My…aren’t you a adorable blind piece of turd.
What a game Mo. MOTM by a mile. Elneny, 2 assists, played in the back 3, played CM. Take a bow Mo
Great to go through – great goal by Welbeck. Great switch by Wenger to bring off Jack and switch to the back 3 as we were just getting overrun. We missed Mik tonight – I suspect he would have finished that chance that Iwobi sent far wide. Still think we should be thinking about a midfield of Xhaka, Elneny & Ramsey with Xhaka and Elneney effectively holding midfielders. We were just getting overrun again.
Elneny man of the match!!!
Loved how he just ran between two players as Cska were playing pig in the middle with him.
Him and Welbeck saved us from humiliation!
Thank you
Yes Danny yes!!!
Very poor performance. Wenger used to keep talking about the mental strength, it only seems to be for come backs. We seem to struggle when ahead or favourites. Sigh!
However, the silver lining probably is when meeting Madrid, in the final, we can go in as underdogs and win it.
I wont accept Arsenal are an underdog to Athletico Madrid, and neither should you as an arsenal fan. I can understand we being classed as underdogs to Real or Barca, but not Athletico and i don’t care what any stupid biased pundit says…..based on what domestic or European achievement of theirs are we the underdog?
Damn straight. I’ve got no fear of playing Atletico. On our day we’re a better team than them and they won’t want to play us.
Whether it’s our day though I can’t say. It’s been a tough season as a fan.
Not on achievement but on this season’s performance so far. They are 2nd in their league behind a record breaking Barca league season.
Also because they are managed by someone who their fans hope would finish on a high and walk away, sadly. I mean their players probably respond better to him than how ours seem to let down the manager very badly during the middle of the season.
Plus our players seem to play without the confidence unless we are chasing the game or trying to save our season.
I agree with you @ chopper4001, and I am hoping the REAL Arsenal will turn up on that day. What is beginning to get my goat though is the critics (and now increasingly fans?) saying we need to avoid Athletico in order to progress,…..well, THEY should be praying to avoid US to progress! We are the ARSENAL!, a club with history, pride and multi cup and league champions….what have they won? We can win this, Athletico or not, and I for one don’t subscribe to the evolving ‘phobia’ about playing them, it takes two to tango, and i am sure… Read more »
Good attitude, but if you look at the defensive statistics for Atletico, it really looks quite complicated for us. They’ve conceded 15 goals in 31 games in the league this season. Allright they haven’t been scoring that much either (51 goals in the league), but they will be very hard to break down.
If Aubameyang did what Welbeck did tonight for that goal, the turn and all, we’d be praising that move as as that of a world class striker.
Give Welbeck credit where it’s due, we have two world class squad players on our hands in him and Elneny!
I think Elneny is better than a “squad player”?
You mean 2 more in addition to Ozil , Auba , Laca , Mhki , Kos , Ramsey
I think Mikeytaryan means we have the luxury of two world class SQUAD players, who are not guaranteed Starting XI.
Elneny BEAST.. what a shift he put in tonight
Phew!
If Aubameyang did what Welbeck did tonight, turn and all, we’d be praising that play as that of a world class striker.
Give him credit where it’s due, we have two world class squad players in him and Elneny!
Browser troubles, sorry for the double comment
That’s alright son, it was a good comment
Elneny MOTM. He was immense
90th minute, their 2 guys passing among themselves and you see Elneny tirelessly running from one guy to the other. Absolute class!!
Great win
On the tie that is
Was very nervous when we switched to a back three but putting in that tall handsome bloke completely negated their crossing tactics. For once, well done Arsene!
Dodged a heart attack but looks like i aged a bit.
After their second goal… It was 40 minutes of my life, but it felt like a week of angst.
Fitting that it was Welbeck and Elneny combining for the goal as they were the only two that turned up. Another shocker from Bellerin.
I hope Wilshere doesn’t sign the contract extension and we go all in for getting Mayer bloke from Schalke for free!
He’s been abysmal for the past month or so and Wenger keep fucking playing him! I hope these two leaves when the season gets over (and I have been a huge Wenger fan over the years).
Mo, wow. Welbeck, wow.
That contract extension should be revoked, Wilshere is awful. If he’s not on the floor he’s either giving the ball away or playing his team mates into trouble. We were much better when he was taken off.
Is it me or does Jack play like he’s stoned
@Vonnie, sadly J.W is the weakest link nowadays, me thinks. He slows down the game (when in possession) and gives the ball away way, way too much, Elneny spreads the ball better has more stamina,is faster etc, etc..
Sad but true imo…
Sure, Wilshere’s form is currently very poor, and he looks exhausted. But he’s had some really good performances this year too, just needs resting. Don’t give up on Jack. It’s not that long since a lot of people were saying the same about Ramsey. People have short memories.
But Jack is always injured! Explains why we’re not busting a gut to re-sign him. Him & Rambo cannot play in the same MF, never have been able to.
Elnenny played himself into the s-f team surely, alongside Xhaka, releasing Rambo to support the front three.
On a separate note – Alex Iwobi, the new Alexander Hleb. Discuss.
Interesting. It’s easy to write off Wilshere as a slow/broken down Rooney or Gaza, but maybe he is young enough to redeem himself. He should be tested in EPL games, not Europa going forward.
Happy for Welbz
Absolutely ecstatic. Atmosphere at home should be lit in the build up to the final (hopefully) now that we’re in the semis. Up the fucking Arsenal!
Just want to point out that we should invest heavily in a pacy winger this summer.
We had 0 pace on the wings today. Could have come in handy today.
Walcott?
I hope we’re going to get more of that.
“…Elneny…WELLBECK!!!…”
I knew we would make it hard for ourselves, but we managed to get through. An average performance but we showed some guts and character when we were 2-0 down. Good. If we can avoid Athletico tomorrow then we should get to the final. Saltzberg would be ideal.
I think people should stop saying ‘if we can avoid Athletico Madrid’ because if anyone has forgotten, this arsenal team can beat anyone as well as loose to anyone depending on the mood.
My sentiments exactly. Why is everybody assuming we are underdogs to athletico?
Maybe it’s because they have got to two Champions’ League finals in recent years, while we have made a habit of disappearing at the last-16 stage, if we even qualify. Or maybe it’s because they are the second best team in Spain right now according to their table. Or maybe it’s because we are in sixth place in our league, light-years from the top.
In a one-off cup final anything can happen. But over two legs Simeone will probably get the better of Wenger: he’s a better manager.
OK?
Seriously?….but did they win it?…or anything in their history for that matter? While of course we have won nothing!, in recent years, and in history. Now, for the records, I am all for Wengxit, because I feel he is better suited to a different era of puristic footballing, which is now gone. Regardless however, I actually look forward to this, and in fact want the 2 leg tie, maybe if he wins it, that is when some fans will grudgingly give Wenger the respect he does rightly deserve. My point being he is not as bad a manager as some… Read more »
As an Austrian gooner, i can’t really agree. I mean, I would love to see Arsenal vs Salzburg in the Semi-finals, but they are a really dangerous team. I’ve watched almost every game of both teams and I almost every time prefered the Salzburg-fixture, just because of the sheer will they put into every second. Having endured through Arsenal this season (and mostly having ignored the Austrian league), it was so refreshing to see a team, that basically plays attacking football à la Arsenal (but never lets their head down, no matter what. They are a force to be reckoned… Read more »
I’m usually the first to criticize negativity after a draw(win), but what in the actual f- the level of casualness to the football at times was infuriating. You know when the team is winning by 3 goals, and the game opens up, and you get some great chances, and the players try the fifa goals, fuck up, and do the “ah dammit” smile/grimace? Felt like that all game. Up until we were 2-0 down. Mustafi. Please man, what are you doing? Welbeck: you’re supposed to be a forward, why are you passing when it would be easier to shoot? Absolutely… Read more »
I apologize in advance for the rambling nature, poor grammar, and, in general, lesser quality of that post.
Danny and Mo Elneny the best of the Arsenal bunch tonight. Could see the team was relieved at the end of it. Let’s keep rolling…
Mesut also put a shift in, and the team kept battling even though things weren’t really working. Sometimes I think it’s more trying too hard, rather than trying too little, the fluency goes and everything becomes harder.
A pretty bad performance tonight. Seeing the CL matches and compare it with our guys, it’s an abyss of difference. We have a manager inferior to his counterparts in top clubs in Europe ( Allegri, sign him) and a stock of players not good enough. Chech and Koz, on their way down, Mustafi will never be a top class defender and Jack lack anything close to fotball ibtelligence, he does his high risk play werever he is on the pitch. Elneny, I like his attitude and workrate, but the guy has only one gear and a slow one. On the… Read more »
Glass half full kinda guy eh?
What planet are you, upnorth sounds like UpNuts. So is Barca a terrible team to have been undone by Roma? Or Madrid to have almost crashed out at the Bernebua. We all want a new good manager no question but Appreciate the efforts of the team that it’s not easy to play football and win all the time. You mustn’t be on the front foot. Even Man City lost both legs of their tie. Athletico lost tonight too.
Mustafi raising his arm for offside on the first goal is embarrassing. He went to sleep. I wonder what has happened to him. Something in the family? He has completely lost the thread.
?
Wenger deserves some credits on Welbeck and Elneny. These guys have really been doing well
Well done lads. This is what potential champions do, find that extra from somewhere to get the needed result. Football really is about confidence and Elneny, growing in confidence with increasing starts in both the Europa and the premiership finally beginning to show what the scouts probably saw in him that made them push arsenal to buy him…what a shift, for me, man of the match by a mile!. he is there when we are attacking, and also there when we are defending, offering himself up as an outlet for the ball when we are under pressure, and surprisingly actually… Read more »
Not disagreeing with you but I must admit I wasn’t impressed with him in the first half. I thought he was slowing our game down. Also thought switching to a back three was a bad idea. Confirms what I suspected: I know nothing about football.
Well this ended up in the wrong place. Was a reply to the top comment. Made sense for someone anyway. Cheers!
Bizarre that although that was was a very close thing, we’re through to the semis with the biggest aggregate win in the quarters. Never doubted it for a minute. Parp
So we’re in the semis of a European competition. Who the fu*% are sp*rs?
The away goals rule added a lot of tension I reckon. At 2-0 they needed one more goal to qualify, but at 2-1, they needed 2 to go to extra time and 3 to win it. They never had a chance when we put it to bed at 2-2.
Do they do a MOTM award at the end of Europa league games? Mo surely nailed that down. He was everywhere!
Never dull in big games! -)
Why is wilshere still starting. This is beyond pathetic and no excuse is good enough.
On a side note, how many last minute goals has Ramsey scored in Europe? I remember Marseille and another against Olympiacos I think at home. He looks to be really getting that goalscoring form back which is great news.
Wow, Mo really Elled his Nenny off tonight
Been to Siberia and back unscathed. Well done boys.
Great win. What a relief. Roma’s come back against barca has emboldened teams with massive deficit that it can be overturned. RM came so close to being booted out and Lazio loosing a 4-2 advantage
So great relief
Thoughts on Golovin?
In fact, Arsenal were the only quarter-final team not to lose the away leg in these quarter-finals. Not sure the score-line reflected the play, though in the end we scored two very good goals, and both of theirs should have been avoided. Once again, we seem to have rediscovered our scoring form (bit late on this time), and we looked a bit more secure 2nd half after changing to three at the back.
After all the talk about not replicating Barca second leg against Roma, we tried to emulate them but without success thankfully. Still we laboured and toiled and made hard work of it when it should have been out of sight early. Some poor decisions and indecisive action because we had many opportunties on the break squandered. In the end Wenger is his worse enemy. He waited too long again but to his credit shifted the shape to a back 3 which afforded Elneny a bit more opportunity to go forward and we reaped the dividends late on. Would have preferred… Read more »
One Elneny doesn’t make a summer