Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil, Wilshere, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette
Subs: Macey, Chambers, Holding, Kolasinac, Elneny, Welbeck, Iwobi
—
Arsenal put themselves in an excellent position for next week’s second leg after a 4-1 win against CSKA Moscow at the Emirates tonight.
Arsene Wenger made a number of changes to the team that beat Stoke last weekend, recalling Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Granit Xhaka, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexandre Lacazette to the starting line-up.
The Gunners had the first effort on goal, Mkhitaryan firing into the side netting after being set up by Ozil in the 4th minute, while the visitors showed some promise up the other end but some lad put it over the bar.
A minute later Aaron Ramsey had the ball in the net but the goal was ruled out for offside on Ozil in the build-up, and the German looked level. The Welshman wasn’t to be denied his goal though and he put us ahead in the 9th minute.
Arsenal worked it from left to right, Wilshere fed Ozil who played Bellerin down the right, he crossed it low to Ramsey who finished with real composure from outside the six yard box. 1-0.
The lead didn’t last long though after Mustafi put us under pressure, weirdly hooking the ball back across his own box, Xhaka could only hoof it up in the air, and when Koscielny fouled some bloke the referee awarded a free kick on the edge of the box which Golovin curled into the top corner to make it 1-1.
It was end to end stuff, and when Ozil was taken down just yards from goal it looked a clear penalty but it was only awarded when the official behind the line consulted with the referee. Lacazette stepped up and scored his second spot kick in a week to make it 2-1.
Minutes later the lead was extended and again it was Ramsey who delivered. Arsenal worked it down the left, Ramsey checked his run, pointed where he wanted it, Ozil obliged and the Welsh Jesus flicked it over the keeper with his heel. Amazing stuff. 3-1.
It got even better in the 34th minute as Arsenal scored again. Xhaka sent the ball down the left to Ozil, he put it in the box, Lacazette controlled it beautifully and put it home with his left foot just inside the post. 4-1.
Some chap had a chance to get one back but put it over, some other fella got a yellow card, and another Russian scoundrel fired over from the edge of the box. Xhaka’s wonderful pass found Ozil at the back post but his finish with the outside of his boot went over just as the first half ended with the Gunners in a commanding position.
The second half began where the first left off, Ozil creating again but Mkhitaryan couldn’t quite get the ball under control to finish from close range. Musa picked up a booking for a foul on Lacazette, and Ramsey almost had his third but his shot deflected wide after beautiful build-up saw him set up by Monreal.
He had another chance after a Mkhitaryan shot was parried away by some keeper, but he could only scoop the ball over the bar. Xhaka got booked, so did some Moscow ruffian for a foul on Mkhitaryan which forced the midfielder off with an injury – he was replaced by Alex Iwobi.
After the Gunners wasted a couple of great overload chances, the visitors had the ball in the net in the 64th minute but the it was rightly ruled out for offside. After being set up buy Ozil, Iwobi chose to try and set up Lacazette at the back post when he should have just finished himself, his lack of confidence showing but the Frenchman missed and eventually Arsenal were offside.
Welbeck and Elneny replaced Wilshere and Lacazette in the 74th minute, and Ramsey came so close again to his third, hitting the post with the keeper well beaten after a pass from Iwobi.
Welbeck had a chance as the game entered its closing stages but the keeper got in the way, Ramsey dragged a shot wide, and late on some blokeski curled a shot wide as they pressed for a goal which might make the second leg more competitive.
Despite missed chances, an emphatic scoreline and a very healthy lead to take to Moscow next week.
Great attacking football. Worth waiting up till 3.00 AM !
Awesome stuff from Ozil. Xhaka was good too. Great goal from Ramsey. Our players have a habit of scoring really artistic goals! ( Giroud’s Scorpion , the one today from Ramsey, Jack’s vs Norwich, Ozil vs Ludogorets..)
But it would be great if our players choose to pass to our striker who is unmarked and in a better position to score in some situations ! Laca was constantly in position and unmarked for a few of those missed chances! Such an intelligent footballer.
We could have had 8-10 goals! 🙁
Great win and should have been more.
Ozil amazing. Jack off the pace. Mustafi very worrying at times.
We’ve been moaned at (by fans and fuckwit-pundits) for making too many passes in & around the penalty box, and wanting to walk the ball into the goal, so having a few players wanting to actually score themselves should be a bit of a positive… provided they do actually score sometimes… 😀
Loved the performance, especially the first half (minus Koscielny’s moment). But how did we not score more!?!?!
Mesut Ozil & Aaron Ramsey are very good at football
Ozil totally killed them
He’s so fun to watch when he plays like that
Great work from the team today. Ramsey’s finish was truly outstanding!
Thought only Jack was relatively poor today, constantly losing balls.
But it puts us in a great position for the QF
Mohamed “Pirlo” Elneny has got to be pushing him for a start, much as I love Jack.
remove Jack, put on Elneny and then that frees up Xhaka to play more offensively and use his passing skills a bit more.
It will forever be a mystery how we didn’t score the 5th one..
amazing game.. like the Arsenal we’ve known.. 🙂
Should’ve had about 10
This, oh how I’ve waited in torment to see a glimpse of this again!!
Tonight I’ll sleep in peace!
Lacazette, Lacazette, won’t you play my clarinet.
Yes I’m drunk.
Are you sure you’d not rather have Bernadette play your clarinet?
That was alot of fun.
I’m can’t stop smiling either.
typo makes jokes look bad
Mixed feelings about the game. Firstly, hats off to Ozil. As someone put it on Twitter: “Mesut Ozil has been man of the match in a game where Ramsey has scored twice, one of which was one of the goals of the season, hit the post and had another disallowed.” I’m very much ok if we go back to the fun attacking football we played during the first hald even if it means we’re little shitty at the back. But that was way too shitty – and if the opposition was just a bit tad better, it could had been… Read more »
Auba played a big role in this win. Laca scoring two goals should partially be down to him literally gifting Laca the penalty on Sunday. Class stuff on the whole.
It’s testament to how incredible Özil was today that I am genuinely frustrated that arsenal only scored 4. What a game he had. Some of his passes were spectacular.
And that dummy-to-self near the end – absolute magic
Butterflies watching that move. My God I love football when I can watch football at that level.
If I was superstitious, I’d mention how good Xhaka’s been since he started wearing short sleeves. But I’m not so never mind… 😉
Absolutely right mate……Whatever it is, long sleeve, short sleeve, brain wave, whatever,…. i like, and long may it continue.
Man am I happy Ozil is staying at Arsenal. He is just a joy to watch. Long may it continue.
Rambo 11/10
Great win. World class goals but we’ve got to play compact against a team like Atletico. The very thought of Godin, Lucas Hernandez, Costa and Griezmann gives me nightmares. Also, the fact that our defence can make grandpa Torres look like a world class player.
Let’s pray. COYG.
I’m quite confident that the thought of Lacazette, Özil, Mhkitaryan and Ramsey gives them some, too. On our day we can beat everyone. Not afraid of anyone.
Great win but one little thing – I was screaming when Iwobi tried to pass to Laca rather than shoot when he was through on goal
There’s a certain contingent of Arsenal fans that’d have you believe that Aaron Ramsey is nothing short of the worst player in the squad and must be shipped out immediately. Don’t listen to them, the boy is magic and he showed that again today with a fantastic display. Just nips ahead of Ozil for MOTM with one of the best goals you’ll see all year. If a certain overly greasy Portuguese man scored that you wouldn’t hear the end of it!
When I read this comment at first I thought you meant a different Portuguese cunt, and to be fair I’d be pretty impressed if a man of Mourinho’s age scored that 😉
You are a minority.
@byte, types like you should be extinct.
you are a cunt
Bonaroca:- Enjoyed the first half with Arsenal playing some very football, I am
very sorry that the second half was disappointing. Why? There was much erratic
passing and this gave their opponents time to recover, in fact although Arsenal
were unlucky not to score in the second half, I am afraid that the team is going to find it very difficult to qualify “I have to keep my fingers crossed”.
I think Mr Wenger should have been jumping like mad instead sitting down when#he saw such slackness.
Wow, some people are just never happy.
#hesawsuchslackness
#veryfootball
Aaron and Mesut exceptional, both in skill and effort. Aaron showed exactly why he should be offered a contract he can’t refuse. Jack showed why he should be given a P45. Either slowed the game down or got caught in possession trying to beat too many players or simply gave the ball away. Exasperating. I wouldn’t mind if it was a one-off but he’s been doing it his whole career.
Yeah, for me the initial excitement of Jack completing successive 90 minutes back in December/January has worn off and he’s now sadly starting to look like the player going through the effects of a career’s worth of serious injuries. Looked well off the pace tonight when compared to the standard set by the rest of our midfielders, and in truth it’s been happening for a while now.
While I agree, that Jack has not been playing well for the last two games, which we have won quite comprehensively, I think before that he was consistently our best midfielder. I think it’s quite knee-jerk to say after two games that he ain’t that good, if he has actually been our best midfielder for most of the games he has played in. I think this stupid contract problems are weighing on his mind. I understand that Wenger thinks these type of things don’t matter and ideally they don’t, but in a real setting they just tend to do. I… Read more »
Personally I’m a big fan of Jack and he’s had some excellent games for us this season like Liverpool and Chelsea at home. But he was shocking tonight, and quiet against Stoke and Milan. Not sure what’s up with him, maybe he’s playing on an injury or the contract situation is distracting him. But he’s playing himself out of contention for a new contract and even a place in the WC squad
How can some continually suggest we need to sell Ozil? Just a joy to watch today. Well done lads.
Delightful performance. Another goal or two would have been great because we created enough for it.
Hope we can do the job in the 2nd leg.
In terms of the opponents in the semis while it would be good to avoid A Madrid, I wonder which of possibly Lazio or Leipzig will be better for us to face.
I reckon Lazio. Leipzig have a few speedsters who can create problems to our defence.
It was wonderful, but they didn’t press us, allowed us lots of space and all of their shots went over the bar by quite some distance! Anyway COYG!
1. CSKA Moscow were rubbish – no better than Southampton or Stoke – just like I said.
2. Nice to see Ozil turn up – why can’t he do it in the big games?
3. We should have scored seven and booked our place in the semis. Let’s hope we don’t live to regret the profligacy.
4. Amazing how many empty seats there were for a game with so much on it.
5 Nice to see Laca back and scoring.
2 and 4 contradict eachother, this was a big game, top teams shut ozil down its not like he doesnt try.
This was as “big” as it gets this season Fats.
Didn’t make it to the game then? I did. When was your last game chubs?
Good win, thought the whole team played well. Bellerin had his best game for a while. Won’t even try and describe how I feel about Ozil when he plays like that, just a pleasure to watch. Also do my eyes deceive me or is Granit Xhaka playing very well of late? Good game again from him.
Only slight concern is that we could have done with maybe one more, but I’m sure we’ll be fine.
Also – OH ROCKY ROCKY! Shivers down my spine when I hear that – that’s what that cannon means.
Get in
We played absolute magnificent offensive Arsenalstyle football tonight and extremely happy for that. BUT,we can’t rely on that the opposition is absolutely shit in front of our goal.Have been coaching in lower League myself and was pretty mediocre , but I see so many simple defensive errors that it makes my stomach turn. The most common error is that the players have only limited understanding of balancing risk and reward. We take huge risks in defence with no possible reward, we seem hotwired to play like this.
Ozil was sublime, controlled the game. 2 assists, could have been 7
Found the Iwobi cameo extremely entertaining.
Ozil – A cut above. Watching him and mikitharyan playing those intricate passes gave me a hard on.
Think ill explode if cazorla could somehow come back into the squad
If Cazorla makes it back into the squad with those two, never mind the hard-on, the walls of my room will look like a helicopter crashed into a glue factory.
My boss will call you later, requesting that you pay for the two monitors I just spat my morning coffee all over! Thank you for that “wonderful” image, sir.
Great win. Finish the job in Moscow now.
Delighted for Lacazette. Can’t believe some fans were starting to write him off after less than a season. He’s a quality player.
Finally getting to look like a real contender for the cup. Players looking for spaces,sweet passing,(they even look hungry)etc etc.There must be someone in the youth camp better than Iwobi,who should be sold to the highest bidder in the summer.
Rambo….. such a completely shite player
you see wenger , if YOU play , lacazette he will score simples
Lets all pray for Cazorla….if he can get back any type of fitness to play with the attacking talent we have now.
Wishful thinking I think. I’d say his days are pretty much done unfortunately.
It feels good having decent penalty takers in the team. More so now that we’re actually being awarded penalties.
Ozil is surreal, laca was very good, well taken goals, nice set of dentition, amazing runs and positioning… If only they spot him half the time. Nacho very consistently bossed whomever was on his path, mkhitryan, oh how I wished he’d scored that goal, woulda been a delicious assist from our wizard of Oz. How did Rambo not score 6 hattricks today?… Beats me really! His goal was such a beauty! I could go on….. Coyg! P.s…… Iwobi and welbeck seem to be cut from same cloth. They need confidence shots seriously. Hopefully that second half from wilshere is a… Read more »
Was worth the 5am wake up to watch. Really enjoy the team when they are at thier fluent attacking best.
Great performance. Now lets not stuff it up in the 2nd leg.
Just checking in here to see if anyone thinks we should sell Ramsey.
Yes.. Sell Ramsey
Methinks it’s up to Ramsey, like OX, Van Persie etc where he sees his future. If it’s with a 6th place club or a team challenging for the Prem. With performances like this, his agent must be rubbing his hands
Sublime footy first half mixed in with a somewhat porous defense on both sides. We need to take the positive from our forward play though. Loved the way we used more of the width of the final third to pull the 3 man defense apart. Thought the Russians would go to a 4 at the back but they persisted with 3 and we had several more chances to cast the next match against them as a formality but alas we conspired not to. That said outstanding performances by BOTH Ramsey and Ozil today. Ramsey was superb. BUT Ozil showed why… Read more »