Lucas Perez made the most of his opportunity to shine as his hat-trick helped Arsenal to a 4-1 win at FC Basel and secured their place at the top of Group A.
The Gunners had looked more likely to finish second before kick-off but, as well as taking care of their own business, PSG suffered a surprise a 2-2 home draw against Ludogorets to allow Arsenal to leapfrog them into first place.
It was a massive result for Arsenal that allowed them to top a group for the first time since 2011-12. In theory it could mean a so-called easier draw in the round of 16, but nothing is guaranteed as the Gunners could still yet face sides including Bayern Munich and Real Madrid depending on the Spanish side's result against Borussia Dortmund. Whatever happens it is certainly a huge psychological boost for Arsene Wenger's men to have defied the odds and topped their group, so hopefully we can kick on from here.
It took Arsenal just eight minutes to opening the scoring in Switzerland as Perez grabbed his first goal of the evening. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil combined well to set up Kieran Gibbs before the left-back picked out Perez to tap in from close range.
Arsenal's hard work was nearly undone soon after when Matias Delgado forced a decent save from David Ospina, but fortunately for the visitors the flag was raised for offside before the rebound was tucked away.
The Gunners doubled their advantage after 16 minutes when Gibbs latched onto Ozil's through ball and saw his strike saved by Tomas Vaclik, but Perez was on hand to net the rebound from close range.
Although Arsenal were seemingly in control, FC Basel almost reduced the deficit before the break. Adama Traore saw his effort sail just wide before Ospina kept out Renato Steffen's shot and was alert to beat Marc Janko to the rebound.
Arsenal made it 3-0 within two minute of the restart as Gibbs once again played a key role in the move. The defender played the ball into Sanchez, who in turn set up Perez to send an angled strike into the bottom corner.
The Gunners piled more misery onto their Swiss opponents just six minutes later as Sanchez set up Ozil, whose unselfish pass across goal gave Alex Iwobi the simplest of tap-ins. It could have been five had Sanchez's free-kick not crashed against the crossbar, but Arsenal were more than deserving of their commanding lead.
FC Basel netted a consolation 12 minutes from time as Seydou Doumbia turned past Laurent Koscielny before slotting a shot beyond Ospina.
As the final whistle blew we knew we had done our bit and just had to nervously wait on the result from Paris. PSG grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser, but were unable to find a winning goal as their match against Ludogorets ended 2-2.
A truly remarkable evening as top spot had looked almost beyond us before kick-off, yet we still managed to finish top of Group A and must make sure we keep our momentum going in the Champions League.
GROUP A
The 4-1 win at FC Basel saw us finish two points clear at the top of Group A.
Although we needed a big slice of luck to help us get there, it is certainly a big confidence boost to finish top. The two draws against PSG had looked like they might come back to haunt us, but in the end we pulled off a European miracle with a big helping hand from our Bulgarian group rivals.
Although we could still get a difficult draw and, in truth, there isn't really such as a thing as an easy round of 16 tie, at least we have put ourselves in a very good position by finishing top. I also don't see any point in being in the Champions League if you don't want to pit your wits against the best, so I don't actually mind who we end up being drawn against. I say, bring it on and what will be will be.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Finishing top of the group is a fantastic achievement and we will find out in under a week's time who are opponents our in the round of 16 in this season's Champions League.
Until then we must fully turn our attentions back to the league and potentially tough home fixture against Stoke. With back-to-back away games at Everton and Manchester City to follow this is certainly going to be a big next fortnight for the Gunners.
We need to make sure that by the end of the game at Manchester City we are still in the title race and, if any of our title rivals mess up, we must be ready to take advantage!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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