Arsenal (5) 6 RC Lens (0) 0
Champions League Group B, Matchday 5 of 6
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Wednesday, 29th November 2023. Kick-off time: 8.00pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Takehiro Tomiyasu, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri
Scorers: Kai Havertz (13 mins), Gabriel Jesus (21 mins), Bukayo Saka (23 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (27 mins), Martin Ødegaard (45+1 mins), Jorginho (86 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 48%
Referee: Artur Manuel Soares Dias (Portugal)
Assistant Referees: Paulo Soares (Portugal), Pedro Ribeiro (Portugal)
Fourth Official: Miguel Nogueira (Portugal)
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
UEFA VAR Team in Geneva: VAR Tiago Martins (Portugal); AVAR Hugo Miguel (Portugal)
Attendance: c.60,000
If we are victorious tonight against our French opponents, we will secure top spot in Group B, which will be a fantastic position to be in, going into the New Year. Fábio Vieira is ruled out of tonight’s game after having surgery on a groin injury, but Kai Havertz will be starting this evening after he came off the bench to score the winner against Brentford on Saturday.
Arsenal kicked off the fifth match of six (and the last home game in Group B for us) in a fantastic atmosphere here at the Emirates tonight. We started off calmly, in control, looking for our men with every measured pass.
We dominated possession of the match in the early stages, and over on the right wing, Takehiro Tomiyasu was causing the RC Lens defenders one or two issues that they don’t appear to be too happy about. Shortly afterwards, a Bukayo Saka pass found Gabriel Jesus, who tried to flick the ball back into Bukayo Saka’s path, but it went askew.
Just after a Kai Havertz header (courtesy of Takehiro Tomiyasu) went narrowly wide of the right-hand post, we took the lead on the thirteenth minute when a high ball was played into the penalty area, Gabriel Jesus laid it off for Kai Havertz, who simply knocked the ball into the back of the net from six yards.
Shortly after the restart, Bukayo Saka was “sandwiched” between two RC Lens players and he crumpled to the ground, holding his leg; he managed to get up and carry on, but he was hobbling around a fair bit.
We grabbed our second goal after just twenty-one minutes when Bukayo Saka drifted in from the right wing and although he almost lost the ball twice, he retrieved it both times before merely poking it to Gabriel Jesus in the penalty area. The little Brazilian sidestepped a defender, leaving him prostrate on the ground, he jinked and turned, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
A couple of minutes later, David Raya pumped a long ball up the pitch into the path of Kai Havertz, who in turn slotted the ball into the path of Gabriel Martinelli, whose lovely curling shot was parried by goalie Brice Samba, right into the chest of Bukayo Saka, who simply bundled the ball into the net.
Four minutes later, we scored our fourth goal of the evening when Gabriel Martinelli ran quickly onto a long ball down the left wing, lost a few defenders, took his time and beautifully curled a shot into the far corner of the net.
One major point of concern tonight was the amount of fouls that Bukayo Saka was receiving, both on and off the ball; if ever a player needs protection from the match officials tonight, it must surely be him.
The visitors claim for a penalty was denied when a ball hit Kai Havertz’s leg and went onto his arm; VAR took a look and quite rightly cancelled it out. Facundo Medina hit a screamer from twenty-five yards, which hit the post and bounced back into play, but we appeared to take it in our stride and carried on pressurising the visitors.
Just before the break, Bukayo Saka passed the ball to Gabriel Martinelli, but he whacked his shot into the side netting, and in the first minute of injury time, our fifth goal was scored when Bukayo Saka ran deep into the RC Lens half, and passed the ball to Takehiro Tomiyasu on the overlap, who immediately crossed it and our captain Martin Ødegaard volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the net from about ten yards. Five-nil to the Arsenal at the half-time break! Phew!
Mikel Arteta has made a double substitution for the second half, with Ben White and Jakob Kiwior replacing Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko. The visitors were making a better fist of things in the early stages of the second half far more than they did in the whole of the previous one, showing more spirit and fight. However, we started to wake up a bit and play the kind of football that got us five goals in the previous half, although obviously, the urgency has dissipated somewhat.
Gabriel Jesus hassled and harried the ball back off from the visitors, but sadly commited a foul in the process. Gabriel Martinelli made a fantastic run through the middle of the pitch, but he was tackled by a phalanx of defenders and he lost the ball in the process, obviously.
The visitors were trying to split our defence using the long ball style of play, but our defenders were easily clearing the ball out of harm’s way.
Bukayo Saka was replaced by Reiss Nelson after sixty-five minutes, and we almost grabbed a sixth goal when Kai Havertz caused mayhem out on the left wing and pulled it back for our captain to shoot.
Martin Ødegaard’s shot was somehow saved by Brice Samba, who dropped the ball but gathered it up just before Gabriel Jesus could pounce on it. Ben White whacked a ball over the bar following a Martin Ødegaard corner, and with fifteen minutes of the match remaining, Jorginho replaced Declan Rice (with an eye towards the Wolverhampton Wanderers match on Saturday afternoon) and just after Eddie Nketiah replaced Gabriel Jesus, we were awarded a penalty when Gabriel Martinelli was elbowed across the face; normally our captain takes the penalties, but he graciously handed the ball to Jorginho, who made no mistake from the penalty spot.
In the three minutes injury time, the visitors had a couple of chances which were easily dealt with, and despite some good possession play from our boys, the match petered out to its natural conclusion.
A fantastic performance by the boys here at the Emirates tonight; six-nil, with six different goalscorers.
The first half sealed the visitors’ fate, and although we played some great football in the second half, the damage to RC Lens had already been done. Sensible substitutions by Mikel Arteta throughout the second half preserved some legs for the Wolverhamtpon Wanderers game on Saturday afternoon, which is going to be an inportant match for everyone. Anyway, as far as tonight was concerned, top of Group B, and we qualified as group leaders with a match to spare. Well done, chaps!
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners.
Our next match: Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates on Saturday, 2nd December at 3.00pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 