Arsenal held their nerves late on to see out a 1-0 win over FC Zurich and qualify to the knock out stage of the Europa League despite PSV winning their game against Bodo/Glimt. The Gunners defended resolutely in the end after Kieran Tierney gave them the only goal of the game in the first half.
Despite a strong start to the group games, Mikel Arteta’s team came into this match knowing they had to win or match the result of PSV to avoid having to play a two legged play-off in March with a team dropping from the Champions League for progression. It was the visitors who started the game brightly but Fabio Vieira and Tierney worked hard to ensure the Gunners took the lead and wrestled back the game at the Emirates.
Aaron Ramsdale made two smart saves, one in the first half and another in the second half to keep the lead intact while Gabriel Jesus would feel he should have scored after being put through one on one with the goalkeeper. To be fair, the save from the Zurich goalkeeper was impressive but the Arsenal forward would should have put the game to bed and avoid the nailbiting end.
Another positive from the game was that Bukayo Saka who limpedd out of the win against Nottingham Forest over the weekend returned to action in the second half of the game and Arsenal now begin preparation for their game against Chelsea in the Premier League with the winger. Here is how we rated the performance of the Arsenal players.
1. Eddie Nketiah
Willing and full of legs. Should have scored but for some good goalkeeping-6
2. Rob Holding
The centre back has made the Europa League his own and was quite decent with his interceptions and over all play-5
3. Fabio Vieira
He’s going to be some really impressive player for the Gunners in the not so distant future. His creativity has no limit and he was just really a creative force-7
4. Albert Sambi Lokonga
Stepped in for Thomas Partey and was just full of energy solidity-5