With an important player like Henrikh Mkhitaryan suffering that injury in the first leg against CSKA Moscow, an audition was in place between Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi for his slot in the team and it’s fair to say they covered themselves in glory when Southampton came to town. Welbeck bagged himself two goals while Iwobi was Arsenal’s creator-in-chief with two assists.
With Granit Xhaka suffering an injury, Mohamed Elneny was drafted into the squad to play alongside the rested Aaron Ramsey in the middle. There were also returns for captain, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette in attack. With a healthy 4-1 advantage, and the madness that has happened this week in European football, I was hoping that the players wouldn’t brace themselves up for some embarrassment but my initial fears were realized when Chalov latched onto a loose ball to tap in a goal that sent the VEB Arena into raptures. The initial header from Nababkin was parried by Petr Cech but like many times in his Arsenal, Skhodran Mustafi lacked presence of mind as Chalov prowled on the loose ball like a predator and wasn’t going to miss from that distance. Things got even more nervy when Cech parried a long range shot to Nababkin’s path and the forward wasted no time in blasting the ball into the net. This essentially meant that with one more CSKA goal, Arsenal’s European dreams were over.
Then Arsene Wenger made a tactical switch to substitute an ineffectual Jack Wilshere for Calum Chambers, changing the formation from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3. This move reaped dividends as Elneny teed up Welbeck and sent him clear on goal. A part of me expected Welbeck to you know, Welbeck it but that’s the unpredictability you get with the lad – he showed good composure and curled it past Igor Akinfeev to bring the Gunners back into the contest. At 2-1, CSKA needed two goals to send the tie into extra time but Elneny was on hand to threaded a sweet pass to Ramsey that sumptuously dinked it over Akinfeev to put the game beyond doubt.
This win has sent Arsenal to the last four of the Europa League with Red Bull Salzburg, Atletico Madrid and Olympique Marseille fighting for Europe’s second tier competition. The last time Arsenal featured in the semifinal of a European event was in 2009, but they were embarrassed by Manchester United. The Gunners would be foolish to underrate any team in the tournament but it’s going to be interesting with the draws coming up.
This tournament has been great thus far and it would be nice to win it, but we have to ensure we maintain focus and prevent any more injuries. I’m also happy with the fact that the Gunners have some momentum going and confidence will continue to increase with each victory. All focus will move to Newcastle this weekend.
Sayonara
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