Arsenal have cemented their place in the last 8 of the Europa League tonight, demolishing Rennes 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
We didn’t have to wait very long to get ourselves right back into the tie, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opening the scoring in the fifth minute of the match.
Only 10 minutes later we scored with only our second shot of the game when Ashley Maitland-Niles headed into the net. This goal was slightly controversial to be honest… Aubameyang was offside before running onto the loose ball, before crossing across the box to find the young full-back at the back post. As simple as that we have overturned the deficit and would be be hot favourites to go through.
Our opponents did try to get themselves back into the tie after the break, and almost did just that as their main striker gained some space on the edge of the box, only to beat the goalkeeper and be denied by the post…
I feel like the second half was pretty even on reflection, but we were all the more clinical in front of goal. Aubameyang was found by Kolasinac in the box to put the game safe with around 20 minutes remaining, but our opponents best chances came in the final 10 minutes.
Thanks to some offside calls, we escaped some rough looking times in the dying moments of the game, with their players being caught by the flag as they look scarily close to breaking through to a one-on-one with Petr Cech on more than one occasion, but thankfully the decisions were on our side, or extra time may have ensued…
Was the performance as flattering as the scoreline? Do Rennes have anything to feel hard done-by about? Who was your man of the match?
Pat J