Match report – Player ratings – Quotes reaction – Video
Arsenal are up into third place in the Champions League table with one game to go, after a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb last night.
After such a hectic schedule Mikel Arteta made some changes, bringing in Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling to the starting line-up, and the game began brightly with a very early goal. They used to be such a feature of this team, not so much this season though, so it was pleasing to see us strike quickly.
Gabriel Martinelli did well down the left, his cross found Kai Havertz in the middle and when he cushioned the ball perfectly back to Declan Rice, the midfielder was there to fire home and make it 1-0. It was a half that Arsenal dominated, without really making the most of our chances. Gabriel headed a Martin Odegaard corner wide when he should have hit the target, the captain set up Rice but his shot was well blocked, Havertz headed wide from a Zinchenko cross, Martinelli shot straight at the keeper, and we should probably have had this game sewn up by half-time.
The only moments of danger came from our own mistakes. Kiwior was caught on the ball but we got back to defend, and when Timber did likewise, Kiwior was there to bail him out. Beyond that Dinamo had nothing much to offer. Early second half bookings for Sterling (who offered little again) and Timber saw the introductions of Ethan Nwaneri and Thomas Partey.
We had lots of the ball, but did little with it. At one point we kept possession inside their half on the left hand side, and eventually we opened up space for Zinchenko to get down the line. Except he turned back and started recycling passes with Gabriel again. I thought he was tidy enough last night, but that moment sort of encapsulated some of the underlying frustrations people feel. I don’t understand why he didn’t burst into that space we had spent a couple of minutes trying to create. Wasn’t that the point of all those passes?!
Which is why when Martinelli did something different it stood out, and paid dividends. The Brazilian had good game in my opinion, but we were horseshoeing a bit too much, so he drove inside towards the box, and produced an outstanding cross which Havertz headed home to make it 2-0. A touch of variety to the way we operated against a team sitting deep, and lo and behold we doubled the lead.
Nwaneri did something similar from the other side, putting a great cross in for Rice who got his header all wrong. It was quite funny that when he was asked about scoring his first ever Champions League goal that he started his reply by talking about how annoyed he was that he missed the chance for his second. His goal bonus should make a donation to Nwaneri’s assist bonus piggy-bank.
After that the game just played out to its natural conclusion. Substitute Leandro Trossard’s smart movement saw him set up Odegaard for a very welcome goal for the captain – his first from open play this season, and regardless of the fact it came in a game we’d won against poor opposition, it’s a positive. Sometimes a player needs to break that drought to get going again, and in the absence of any reinforcements so far, we need the players we have to deliver more.
Right at the end, Arteta decided to hand a debut to young forward Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, but the ball wouldn’t go out. When it did, it was for an opposition corner so he didn’t make the change, and I felt for the young man who would have been so desperate to get on and enjoy a few minutes. It happened eventually but it was into the three minutes of added time and he didn’t get a touch of the ball. A shame, but still a nice moment for him I’m sure.
Afterwards, the manager said:
I’m very happy overall, it’s a massive step forward tonight. It puts us in a really strong position to play the last game in Girona. We scored three goals, created plenty of chances, dominated the game, didn’t concede a shot and another clean sheet at home. So overall, very happy.
I think it was just what we needed really. A comfortable night in which we didn’t really have to push ourselves too far physically, a goal and an assist for Havertz, a goal for Odegaard, a nice assist from Martinelli, and a clean sheet. I can’t remember a game when David Raya has had to do less. It’s not one that will go down in the annals of history as a great game, just one more step towards the knock-out rounds, and the win more or less assures us of that. Those extra games to make that stage of the competition are gonna be for other teams to deal with, so that’s another positive.
The only bit of worrying news was that Myles Lewis-Skelly has a problem with his knee which requires further tests today, so keep everything crossed. It would be absolutely typical of this season to see him sidelined, but let’s hope that’s not the case. In any event, we had Riccardo Calafiori back in the squad, Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney both featured last night, and there was even a sight of Takehiro Tomiyasu on the bench – so we have options. Lewis-Skelly has been such a light this season though, it’d cruel if it were anything other than minor.
Attention now turns to Wolves on Saturday, but we’ll deal with that down the line. We’ll have an Arsecast for you a little bit later this morning, so stayed tuned for that. In the meantime, have a good one.
