Arsenal have Lille difficulty in overcoming French side to bag another three Euro points
Champions League MD 2
Arsenal (0) 3 Timber 64, Eze 67, Saka 71
LOSC Lille (0) 0
It's nice to be back in the old familiar routine.
In this current climate of Premier League uncertainty, Arsenal at least know where they stand when it comes to Europe and they seem to revel in the comfort it brings.
Here was another trouble-free night for them on their return to the competition on home soil. They were held up by their stubborn French opponents for an hour but ultimately had way too much for their cross-channel visitors. .
The 1-0 day one victory in Naples - thanks to a Martin Odegaard winner - has already given them a pathway towards a top eight finish, and an automatic place in the knockouts next year.
Their record of eight straight 'group stage' wins last season ensured a favourable draw that ended with them going all the way to the final in Budapest and they look intent on repeating the approach, although their next game on October 20 offers up the sternest of tests at Bayern Munich - while Real Madrid are due in London for matchday six on December 9.
The other fixtures they must negotiate are Slavia Prague away and Dortmund at home next month. In January, they play Betis away and finish with a home game against Sabah FK - the team from Azerbaijan who lost 4-0 to Man United in their opener.
Lille, second in Ligue 1, lost 3-2 at home to Betis in their first match so have work to do. Their next games are against Galatasaray (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Bayern Munich (H), Stuttgart (A), Slovan Bratislava (H) and Roma (A).
The Gunners were unhurried in their approach - trusting in their ability to eventually break down a team that have conceded only four in six Ligue 1 games.
Bruno Guimaraes missed a great chance from a Jurrien Timber cutback and Mikel Merino planted a free header straight at keeper Berke Ozer. A deflected Bruno shot had the keeper scrambling. It was just a warm up though.
Noni Madueke began the game by running the ball out of play three times and handling inadvertently after slipping on the turf. But he was seeing plenty of the ball and grew into the game whereas Viktor Gyokeres, struggling for relevancy so far this season, was not getting into the game enough and he was hooked fairly early on.
More than an hour had elapsed before that Lille rearguard was broken and it was a fine first touch from Timber from a Madueke pass which allowed him to dink the ball home.
Freed at last to express themselves, Eberechi Eze soon doubled the lead with a fine left-foot finish - Bukayo Saka the supplier, having just come off the bench. Within minutes, fellow subs Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz had combined to give Saka a simple finish.
All that remained was for Arsenal fans to see one of their former heroes put in a cameo off the bench for Lille. The 40-year-old Olivier Giroud may have left the Emirates to turn out at Chelsea in the twilight of his career but it didn't prevent him getting a mostly positive greeting as he entered the field.
Before kick-off there were tributes to life president Ken Friar, who has passed away at the age of 92. The club plans to honour him formally before next Saturday's home game against Everton.
Gunners: (4-2-3-1) Raya - Timber (White 78), Konsa, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly - Bruno Guimaraes, Rice - Madueke (Saka 65), Merino ((Odegaard 65), Eze (Dowman 85) - Gyokeres (Havertz 65)
Lille: (4-2-3-1) Berke Ozer - Goffi, Ngoy, Alexsandro, Perraud (Verdonk 78) - Bentaleb (Sahraoui 72), Andre - Bakwa (Diaoune 82), Mukau (Kjaergaard 72), Haraldsson - Ueda (Giroud 78)
Comments