It was hard to imagine an Arsenal exit at this early stage of the Europa league but the North London club did their level best to dispel any thoughts of continuing their journey in this competition on a bitter February evening in Belarus.
The inhospitable conditions were a factor but so was the Gunners lack of industry, with few chances being fashioned and then allowing their hosts to nab a goal.
Thankfully, Arsenal calmed the nerves temporarily in the 4th minute when Aubameyang scooped the ball up wide, racing forward, before whipping in a cross that Volkov steered into his own net. The collective trepidation was replaced by smiles and a sense of relief.
It took another five or six minutes for Bate to actually get hold of the ball because the home side were in charge and looking to smother their opponents quickly. Yet Bate kept their heads, almost safe in the knowledge that Arsenal would provide them with a golden opportunity and that it might be enough in the grand scheme of things.
Skavysh and Dragun went close and the latter required Lichsteiner to clear off the line. The Swiss hasn’t performed well recently and that action put some goodwill back in the pot. Both Ozil and Mkhitaryan looked as if they fancied the task and started to flow as the game went on.
Then after about 20 minutes, Xhaka unleashed one of his blistering thunderbolts which bought a theatrical save from Scherbitski. The move of the first half came around the 31st minute when Monreal fed Ozil, the German cheekily backheeled into the path of Xhaka but it ended in disappointment flying over, rather than under, the Bate crossbar.
Xhaka’s corner from a delightful piece of Mkhitaryan skill that saw the Armenian twisting around in the box and befuddling a defender met the head of Mustafi and almost took the net off. He has had an indifferent season and the goodwill pot was called into action for another soldier of misfortune.
At Half time, all one could hope for is that Bate wouldn’t get their second wind and the Gunners wouldn’t start hitting the snooze button. There were more goals in this and you just had to hope that they came from the bodies in red and white shirts.
Aubameyang continued to talk himself out of goals in the second half as he had the first and it was unfortunate that the Gabonese striker didn’t compliment his general performance with at least one strike. Ozil and Mkhitaryan worked well but 29 year old Guendouzi ran the show with another confident display in a more compact and deliberate Arsenal side.
However, the North London club wouldn’t know they’d been in a game without someone getting injured. This time it was the turn of captain Laurent Koscielny, who was replaced in the 56th minute after picking up a suspected calf strain. On came the muscular mass of tension and physical brutality known as Sokratis, who along with Holding and Bellerin has been the pick of the back line this season.
Ozil took the armband from the departing Frenchman and we all felt the hand of irony pat us on the back without letting us in on the joke. The midfielder has been heavily criticised for everything from his body posture to the way he breaths. He couldn’t get on the bench even if all the substitutes had been kidnapped.
Then out of complete desperation, he gets a game and shows off his repertoire of neat touches, lobs, flicks and back heels and ends up becoming Captain. In the 60th minute, the bristling Mkhitaryan did some great work down the right to draw a corner.
Xhaka fired it in only for Scherbitski to flap at the ball in midair, with Sokratis gratefully accepting the free header, game over!
You felt the crowd expected more but they should have been grateful that they were in the last 16 without succumbing to a sucker punch, which looked on the cards early on. Once Arsenal got the second, they became more assertive at the same time as Bate started to gear down and the result was almost inevitable.
However, Arsenal will have to find a level of intensity that they can call upon for the remaining games in the Premier and Europa leagues if they wish to realise their ambitions. As for Emery, the pressure is off for now, as he tries to establish what his best eleven is, with and without casualties.
Denis Suarez, despite his expensive loan from Barcelona, still can’t play for 90 minutes and one wonders what was the point. The last thought is with Mesut Ozil, who left the field to the sound of appreciation ringing in his ears, without knowing if he would make the team or the bench for his sides next game.
