Mikel Arteta’s men were hardly made to work for another Champions League win as goals from Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka secured victory.
Arsenal made light work of Sevilla at the Emirates to run out 2-0 winners and gain a dominant grip on their Champions League group.
Kai Havertz could have put Mikel Arteta’s men in front inside the opening 60 seconds. Unfortunately, he headed wide when left unmarked from six yards out. Thankfully for the German, It was Arsenal who opened the scoring, with Leandro Trossard capping off a delightful move that started with a stunning pass from Jorginho, into Bukayo Saka who laid it on a plate for the Belgian.
The Gunners were well worth their lead, as they dominated proceedings from the first whistle. That was aided by Declan Rice’s stellar display in the middle of the park, with the £105million man boasting a 100 per-cent passing record over the course of the first half.
Saka ensured that Sevilla couldn’t muster up any hope late on when he calmly dispatched Arsenal’s second. It was the kind of finish Gunners supporters have seen so often from a player who can already lay claim to be one of the club’s greatest-ever academy graduates.
The majority of the second-half passed by with little to note outside of Saka’s goal, which is exactly what Arteta would have wanted given the drama of last Sunday. However, Arsenal’s right-winger did limp out of action with just over five minutes left to play and that will be a major concern for the Gunners boss.
With both Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus ruled out of this clash due to injuries, it was up to Trossard to occupy the central attacking role against Sevilla. Creativity has been an ongoing issue for Arsenal so far this term and it remained so against the Spaniards.
In past games, many have put that down to Nketiah’s inability to link up with his team-mates but Trossard showed no such problem. The Belgium international put the hosts in front just shy of the half-hour mark, calmly slotting beyond Marko Dmitrovic to ease some of the tension inside the Emirates.
To put into context just how compatible Trossard is with Saka in particular, all five of the forward’s goals have been assistaed by the England ace. Such a fruitful partnership, it would be negligent of Arteta to not try and get more out of it.
That strike marked Trossard’s second Champions League goal of the season and no doubt will lead to many of the Arsenal fanbase questioning why he isn’t trusted from the start more often. If Nketiah is fit in time to feature against Burnley on Saturday, he may have to do so off the bench.
Inside the opening 15 minutes, Arsenal’s star-man Saka was kicked up in the air on three occasions, two of which by Nemanja Gudel. It didn’t take long for Arteta to turn to the fourth official and ask: “how many?” before the Serbian was shown a yellow card.
Soon after, Kike Salas was guilty of hauling the England international down, which prompted Saka himself to march over to the refeere and count out how many times he’d been stopped in his tracks unfairly. And yet, referee Istvan Kovacs still kept his cards in his pocket.
Arteta’s comments on the state of refereeing last weekend seemed exclusively about Premier League matters. But he didn’t seem too pleased with what he was seeing against Sevilla either. Salas managed another foul on Arsenal’s number seven that went unpunished in what looked like a co-ordinated effort to rotationally foul Saka over the course of the game.
The 22-year-old is no stranger to rough treatment however and it did not put him off his game, with Saka adding Arsenal’s second. Cutting back into his left like he so often does, the Three Lions regular made no mistake and guided his effort into the bottom corner of the net from inside the area.
Saka was unable to finish this contest after landing awkwardly following an aerial duel, however, his ankles aren’t likely to have been helped by the amount of kicks they sustained throughout the game.
The winger was booted around all over the park early on as Sevilla’s defence aimed to send a message to one of the Gunners’ main danger men. It was a message that was ignored, with Saka ensuring he registered a goal and an assist before he left the pitch.
For all of the doom and gloom around the Gunners after two defeats from their last two games, Arsenal have managed to all but secure their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with two group games to spare.