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Arsenal’s pre-match status as the winners of the group made this match a dull affair. Arsenal welcomed Laurent Koscielny into the starting line-up which will give the Gunners some cover for Mustafi and Sokratis who are both suspended for Sunday’s premier league match against Southampton.
17-year-old Bukayo Saka made his debut for Arsenal and Unai Emery’s strategy of giving academy graduates time in first team really paid off in their last Europa league group match. Mesut Ozil made a noted comeback after his absence due to strange reasons, and created the only goal of the match for Lacazette who was starting after a long time himself. With Ramsey not playing today’s match, there are chances he might start on Sunday. Arsenal have to play four matches in the next 10 days and the confidence that they have gained from a 22-match unbeaten run is surely going to help the Gunners.
Here are three reasons Arsenal won the match without any fuss:
3. Not a very strong opponent
There was literally no pressure exerted by the Azerbaijani side as Arsenal had it easy throughout the night. It gave Unai Emery a chance to test out his youngsters. Saka, Willock, and Niles really performed well with no major mistakes and made their case stronger for future starts.
It was a good match at the right time for Emery to bring Koscielny and Ozil in, as they needed some match fitness after a long injury layoff. Weak opponents like Qarabag will be a rarity in the coming days for Arsenal, since they have a hectic festive period with four matches in the next 10 days to try and keep their unbeaten run intact.
Qarabag finished at the bottom of the table and today’s performance was reason enough to believe why they were not able to compete well in the group.
2. Return of experienced players
Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, and Lacazette all made returns to the starting line-up after injury layoffs. Ozil didn’t have much to do except the wonderful assist for Lacazette, which won the game for Arsenal.
Monreal also came off the bench to get some very important game-time, as he makes his progress into the first team. Sokratis, another experienced player, played with good positional sense, rarely seen out of the zone and never gave a chance to the Qarabag attack.
Unai Emery’s belief in rotating the captaincy is seen as an important way of increasing bonding among the team members. Today it was the turn of Laurent Koscielny to don the captain’s armband and the Gunners would be happy to see their favorite defender play 70 minutes. Koscielny is likely to start in center defense with Nacho Monreal, against Southampton on Sunday.
1. Emery’s trust in youngsters
Maitland-Niles, Saka, and Willock all had an excellent game and gave fans a glimpse of how the academy is performing and what holds the future for the club. Maitland-Niles was a constant threat on the left side and even on the right side when he was moved in the second half.
Bukayo Saka had an excellent chance to score his first goal for Arsenal in the second half but he fired straight at the keeper. He showed his pace and trickery throughout the match and he looked like a younger version of Gervinho. Willock had a steady game controlling the midfield with Elneny and didn’t offer much while going forward.
Nketiah came second to Maitland-Niles in terms of impact in the game as he created a lot of chances for Saka and Lacazette. With a series of matches coming up, Unai Emery would be confident that he has some youngsters in his squad whom he can fall back on, as and when required.
