Arsenal have dominated Dundalk to come away with a 4-2 victory.
victory in Dublin tonight, much like they controlled their other group matches also.
The Gunners have claimed 18 out of a possible 18 points from their group, while Molde have emerged out of the group with them.
Our side started this game in emphatic fashion, and barely allowed the Irish FAI champions out of their own half, and wasted little time in opening the scoring.
Eddie Nketiah was the man to break the deadlock as he became the club’s top goalscorer this term, as he dispossessed the defender’s clearance before running through on goal and lobbing the incoming goalkeeper.
It wasn’t long before we doubled our lead either, when Mo Elneny took on a long range effort, only to find the top right hand corner and leaving the Dundalk shotstopper without a hope.
Just as you were imagining a rout of a scoreline, the Irish hit back through Flores from a fair distance, and you could possibly argue that Runarsson should have done better to stop it.
The scores stayed at 2-1 going into the break, and they came out in the second half with less energy.
We retained possession well, but weren’t getting in behind and causing too many problems early in the half, but we moved to bring on Ceballos and Balogun on the hour mark to change things up, and it did.
The American-English forward is credited with the assist, as he set up Joe Willock to get his third goal of the competition, and he continued to look a threat throughout.
It was only right that he got himself on the scoresheet also, with Nicolas Pepe playing him through perfectly to calmly slot past the goalkeeper and into the side netting.
The goals were not done yet however, as Dundalk pulled back a late consolation to end the game at 4-2, and the Irish can hold their heads high for another gutsy performance against top level opponents.
Will Arteta have to sit up and take not of Balogun, or is the youngster still behind Nketiah in his expectations?
Patrick