After a terrible round-of-32 first leg against BATE Borisov made fans nervous of an early Europa League exit, Arsenal breezed through the second without any problems.
After a 1-0 defeat in Belarus, Arsenal knew they needed to score quickly to turn things around at the Emirates Stadium. Thankfully, Borisov were willing to help, with defender Zakhar Volkov turning the ball into his own net in the first five minutes.
Despite one scary moment when a deflected cross almost led to a goal before Stephan Lichtsteiner’s intervention, the away side very rarely threatened after that. Arsenal had all the chances, but the second and third goals ended up coming from unlikely sources, with Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos heading home.
The Gunners will now progress to the last-16, where it’s less likely they’ll be able to get away with such a disastrous first-leg performance.
Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match.
4Substitutes
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 8
Sokratis made his return from injury with a bang, scoring a header just a few minutes after entering the pitch. The defender was only brought on to allow Koscielny to get some rest, so it was a welcome bonus to see him scoring to put the tie to bed.
He was in typically fiery form defensively as well, winning a couple of individual duels to recover the ball. It’s great to see him back.
Lucas Torreira 7
It was good to see Torreira and Xhaka back together in a midfield pair for the first time in a while, as that’s still the most successful pairing Arsenal have tried this season. The Uruguayan didn’t put a foot wrong after coming on, but nor was he involved in anything particularly eye-catching.
Denis Suarez 7.5
Suarez’s performances continue to improve with each substitute appearance he makes, and he looked a bit more positive on this occasion, taking players on and playing some quick passes. He actually completed as many dribbles in his 12 minutes as anyone else in the full 90. Perhaps he’ll get a start against Southampton.