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Arsenal kick-started their Europa League campaign with a 4-2 win over Ukranian club, Vorskla Poltava late Thursday evening at the Emirates Stadium, London. Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a brace, following which Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil added two more to the tally.
The night didn't end perfectly for the gunners as Vorskla scored two late goals to deny the Gunners a clean sheet. Vladimir Chesnakov and Vyacheslav Sharpar were the two players on the scoresheet for the Ukranian top flight club.
Let's look at five talking points from today's game from the Emirates.
#1 Arsenal games continue to be exciting this season
After Thursday night's Europa League fixture, there have been a total of 25 goals (14 scored and 11 against), in the six official games played by Arsenal this 2018-19 season, five in the Premier League and one in the Europa League. That makes it 4+ goals every game in which Arsenal have taken part.
This is a typical stat for Arsenal manager Unai Emery who believes in attacking based football and playing from the back. Emery has been known for the same in his time with Sevilla and PSG.
#2 Aubameyang continues his good form
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been directly involved in 11 goals in his ten appearances for Arsenal at the Emirates. He has scored eight goals in those appearances and assisted 3 for his fellow Arsenal team-mates.
Now that shows some impressive form from the ex-Dortmund striker who has always been an explosive and pacy striker his whole career. If he shows consistency, Arsenal's long lasting wait for a perfect striker to replace Thierry Henry might just end this season.
#3 Mesut Ozil may be coming back into form
After a disastrous on field and off field World Cup campaign with Germany this summer, which resulted in his international retirement, Mesut Ozil has been on a sort of a recovery process for a while. The German has also been criticized for his Arsenal displays this season.
With manager Unai Emery fully supporting the midfielder, he might have finally got the nick of getting back on track for Arsenal and the goal against Vorskla last night surely displays the same. It was a typical Ozil finish, classy and slick. One more bonus point for the Arsenal assist machine - he scored after coming off the bench as a substitute.
#4 Unai Emery continues to dominate in the Europa League
Unai Emery is certainly the most successful manager in the Europa League history, winning the trophy a magnificent three successive times with Sevilla between 2013 and 2016. But that's not the only stat that shows his dominance in the European competition.
The Spanish coach has a total of 32 victories in the Europa League, more than any other manager who has ever played the competition. And that's in just four seasons he has managed in the Europa League. Arsenal fans will be hoping he does another 'Sevilla' in the Europa League this season.
#5 Arsenal's defensive woes continue
Arsenal surely have one of the best attacking forces in Europe, due to the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi and Aaron Ramsey, but the defence has been shaky throughout their six competitive games this season.
With Laurent Koscielny out because of injury, Arsenal are heavily dependant on the duo of Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, but they don't seem to be doing enough to deal with the attacking threat of the opposition.
The defence came under pressure again on Thursday night, when unexpectedly Vorskla scored two goals in the dying minutes of the match against the sleeping Arsenal. It was Bernd Leno's Europa League debut for Arsenal which he might have expected to finish with a clean sheet, but the Ukranian club had other plans.
Winter is coming, and Emery might surely be looking to strengthen his defence in the transfer window.
