In a dire night in Azerbaijan, Arsenal beat Qarabag 0-3.
In the end, the Gunners got a win and the important three points to aid their progression into the knockout rounds of the Europa League, but it really wasn’t pretty out in the land of fire. The performance was bafflingly anaemic and frankly devoid of any real quality.
It seems weird to say about a side that has now won eight games in a row, but Arsenal are not a very good side.
That’s not to say they won’t become one, because they have outstanding ability in their team and will improve the longer they have to adapt to Unai Emery’s tactical blueprint. The Spaniard’s teams always take their time to get going, but right now, they have very much not.
Sure, the game saw Sokratis Papastathopoulos become the first Arsenal goalscorer to have never played a competitive game under Arsene Wenger since Glenn Helder in January 1996. That’s 22 years ago, before the likes of Alex Iwobi were even born.
There were two outstanding individual performances, and by outstanding we mean literally that they stood out from the doldrums. They weren’t excellent or anything, no one was excellent, but they managed to play well enough to stand out from the crowd.
WWWWWWWW
Arsenal have won eight consecutive games across all competitions for the first time since March-April 2015 (9 games).
Goals: 22
Conceded: 7
Clean sheets: 3— Jake Entwistle (@JakeEntwistle) October 4, 2018
Alex Iwobi
The young Nigerian seems to have been around for ages, but he’s still only 22 years old. He’s beginning to flourish under Unai Emery, with his positional discipline and excellent defensive effort now being balanced by a useful attacking instinct.
Being able to contribute more than the odd goal in attack was always going to be the difference as to whether Iwobi makes it, and given that he is by far the least illustrious of the Arsenal forwards it makes sense that he focuses on facilitating interplay and working hard defensively – he is the closest thing Arsenal have to a winger in their first team.
That’s what allowed him to stand out tonight and what will set him apart in the squad generally. In Baku, he was often carrying the ball forward and driving at Qarabag to try and kickstart Arsenal attacks. He completed 4/7 take-ons (no other player managed more) and created three chances too – including a superbly weighted pass for the second Arsenal goal.
No moment characterised Iwobi’s performance better than chucking the Qarabag captain to the floor after a blatant shirt-pull had halted any potential progress. Arsenal fans certainly loved it.
Take this as a warning…
DO NOT pull Alex Iwobi's shirt
🤣 pic.twitter.com/iU997IEkis
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 5, 2018
Emile Smith Rowe
The other, more eye-catching performance of the night was 18-year-old Emile Smith-Rowe. The brightest star emerging from the Arsenal academy, the teenage attacking midfielder was given a chance to impress with the first start of his European career and he didn’t disappoint.
Smith-Rowe was sensational, always demanding the ball and showing no fear whatsoever in what can’t have been an easy environment to play in as a teenager. What stands out about Smith-Rowe is the confidence with which he plays, because it’s rare to see a young player have no inhibitions out on the field; Smith-Rowe never seems afraid.
Time and time again he took the ball and ran at Qarabag. He completed an impressive 3/3 take-ons and rattled off a game-high four shots. He nearly scored for Arsenal just a couple of minutes into the game but his lunging effort went just wide. He did get on the scoresheet just short of the hour mark as he latched on to Iwobi’s superb pass and slid the ball under the Qarabag goalie, becoming Arsenal’s first 2000-born goalscorer.
To score your first Arsenal goal in just your second Arsenal start is impressive enough, but even more incredible is that the goal made him the third-youngest English goalscorer in Arsenal’s European history. A truly historic moment, and while it seems that Arsenal’s Europa League games are going to be a slog, Alex Iwobi and (especially) Emile Smith-Rowe seem like they are ready and willing to stand up and try to inject the Gunners with some explosive fun.
The post Iwobi and Smith Rowe shine brightly as dull victory vs Qarabag maintains Arsenal’s winning streak appeared first on Squawka News.
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