Arsenal supporters were pleased with the performance of Saman Ghoddos during the Gunners’ 3-0 triumph over Ostersund in the Europa League round of 32 first-leg.
The Iran international, who has been attracting interest from the Spanish La Liga, became a constant threat to the Gunners’ defence shortly after Arsene Wenger’s side went 2-0 ahead.
Ghoddos could not find the scoresheet over the course of the game, but he managed a couple of attempts at goal including a superlative effort from outside the box which required David Ospina to make a fingertip save.
The Swedish outfit had not played a competitive fixture in their division for more than two months, and the Gunners supporters were impressed with the workrate of Ghoddos upfront than Welbeck, who appeared to lack the cutting edge in front of goal.
The England international was the only fit centre-forward in the club’s ranks eligible to play in the Europa League after Alexandre Lacazette’s injury, but his latest performance does him no favours in earning a contract extension beyond June 2019.
“Leave Welbeck in Östersund and bring Ghoddos to London instead.”, said Arman.
“Swap Welbeck for Ghoddos, please”, said Eric.
“How about we leave Welbeck in Sweden and bring that Ghoddos fella from Östersunds on a plane back to London instead??”, said P.
“Arsenal should buy Ghoddos! He is a way better rotation player than Welbeck.”, said Petter.
“Ghoddos is already better than Welbeck”, said Lee.
Ostersund started the game defensively which played into the Gunners’ hands with Nacho Monreal opening the scoring before an own-goal double the lead.
However, shortly after, the home side exhibited their dominance in the attacking department, and they eventually ended the game with reasonable control with 44 per cent of the possession.
Mesut Ozil’s second-half strike in his maiden European appearance this term killed the game off, but Ospina made a key save off a penalty right at the end to preserve the three-goal margin.
Arsenal have endured a lean run in terms of keeping out non shoot-out, and Ospina’s save between the sticks was the club’s very first since 2014, where Lukasz Fabianski pulled out a block on Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller.
