Arsenal have earned passage into the next round of the Europa League after sealing the win over PSV this evening.
The Gunners came quickly out the starting blocks like we have seen a number of times this term, and had 81% of the possession after the early exchanges (as stated on BT Sport’s coverage). Despite all our efforts and domination, the goal continued to elude us however, while our Dutch rivals were looking a little dangerous on the counter. Much of our efforts seemed to be going through Eddie Nketiah, who could not be kept under control, but he may well have been trying too hard.
Jesus did force Walter Benitez into an impressive save just after the 30-minute mark, but the majority of our efforts were going agonisingly wide, and we eventually went into the break level at 0-0.
The game became a little tetchy at times, with both sides being drawn into making untimely tackles and attempting to take shots on from distance, but the PSV keeper was being put to work all the same as we began to assert our dominance once again.
Saka also got a little adventurous as he attempted to disguise an effort on goal, only to fail to beat the defence, and the manager decided it was time to make some changes, bringing both Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard into the XI in place of Lokonga and Vieira.
It didn’t take long before we did pop up with the winner however, with Granit Xhaka finishing off a fine team effort when lashing home a right-footed effort into the bottom corner, and while the goal stood, we did have a fright soon after when Bukayo Saka looked to have picked up an injury, although he was deemed fit to continue.
Both defences deserve credit for their displays today, as does both Saka and Nketiah for standout performances also, but I can’t help but feel a little frustrated that our forward wasn’t able to mark his outing with a confidence-boosting goal.
Patrick