Last night’s 6-0 victory was quite the sign off to our first Europa League group stage in 20-odd years wasn’t it? Not only did we fly through Group H but the win also signalled Arsene Wenger’s 700th win as Arsenal manager which is quite an achievement.
Despite such a big win though there weren’t many standout performances. For much of the game Arsenal seemed to be in cruise control as we walked to another three points but there were a couple of things that were a bit off-script.
One of those things was us reverting back to a back four after however-many months, which didn’t seem to affect the game too much, but it was nice to see that we were still familiar with that set up.
Another would be some of the goalscorers, who most people probably wouldn’t have chosen before the game. Mainly Mathieu Debuchy, Mohamed Elneny and Jack Wilshere.
A couple of those players were also in the running for the man of the match though and first up is Debuchy. This Europa League campaing as seen the re-emergence of the Frenchman into the first team picture after a couple of years of struggling with injury and fighting off Hector Bellerin, but he has definitely made his case again.
Playing in his more familiar role of a normal right back, Debuchy started the game very well with a powerful effort to put us ahead. After stamping his name on the game, he was then very reliable at the back and carried himself well throughout the rest of the game.
Another player whose performance was a bit better than his teammates’ last night was Theo Walcott. Making his return after illness with the captain’s armband, he had an eventful night.
Firstly, he was able to get himself into some decent positions early on before capitalising later in the first half with an assured finish. Walcott was unlucky not to get a couple more goals but being a tad rusty without that much game time of late it’s forgivable.
That wasn’t the only goal he was involved in though as he had a hand in our fourth. Taking advantage down the right wing, he played a dangerous ball into the box before BATE’s Denis Poluakov stuck the ball in his own net.
The man of the match from last night though was Wilshere who has looked more than comfortable in the group games he’s featured in.
Over the past couple of months, we’ve seen the typical Jack Wilshere that glides past players and dictates what goes on around him, but we also got a little extra.
First off, we got a very well-struck goal in the first half which flew through a defenders legs before going in after Wilshere had made some space for himself on the edge of the box.
We were also treated to his great passing range. Yes, we all know he’s got the intricate short passes in his locker but we also saw a couple of defence splitting ones, one of which resulting in that own goal in the second half.
We then got to see him take on the captain’s armband and lay the ball off to Elneny for his goal to top off the night. A great performance to end the Europa League group stage.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
