It may not have been the most convincing of performances, but Arsenal sit top of Group H in the Europa League after a Theo Walcott double fired them to a 4-2 win at BATE Borisov.
Arsenal blew their opponents out the water in an impressive opening half an hour in Belarus and, after having looked so comfortable, the visitors began to show signs of weakness at times and just about got away with it.
Rob Holding scored his first goal for the Gunners in the first half before Olivier Giroud netted his 100th in Arsenal colours to complete the scoring for the visitors.
Jack Wilshere put in an impressive display and young midfield duo Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock didn't look at all out of place in the starting line-up and gave a good account of themselves. When I first saw the line-up I was surprised by the selection, but fairly impressed with the results. However, I was still surprised that we didn't have the likes of Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez at least on the bench as back up.
With a maximum six-point haul from our opening two games, albeit with not too difficult a group, I am pleased with the start we've made to life in the Europa League in terms of the results. Admittedly our opponents haven't been of the calibre we have faced in the Champions League, but they still had the potential to be tricky, so winning both games is a good start.
Arsenal started strongly and with attacking purpose and very nearly took the lead after just seven minutes, but Walcott's shot hit a post following some great build-up play. But the England international wasn't to be denied soon after - Wilshere showed a great touch as he burst into the box before crossing for Walcott to head home.
Provider nearly turned scorer after 16 minutes, but Wilshere saw his effort ruled out for offside, which after seeing the replay looked like a harsh decision.
At the other end Mirko Ivanic's speculative effort sailed off target before he sent a volley just wide soon after. Those misses proved costly for the hosts as Arsenal doubled their advantage after 22 minutes, thanks largely to an error from BATE goalkeeper Denis Scherbitski. Scherbitski inexplicably gifted the ball straight to Walcott with a poor pass and the Arsenal forward ran into the box and slotted home his second.
Arsenal were in again just three minutes later as Walcott's corner was flicked on by Per Mertesacker for Rob Holding to turn home - not the most memorable way to grab your first goal for the club, but they all count.
Ivanic's powerful header reduced the deficit soon after and this seemed to spur the hosts on. David Ospina made a cracking one-handed save to keep BATE out before the offside flag was raised, while the Arsenal goalkeeper then had to be alert to deny Ivanic soon after.
Nemanja Milunovic appeared to get away with what looked like an elbow on Joe Willock in the first half as Arsenal continued to dominate. Only an excellent fingertip save from Scherbitski prevented Walcott from completing a first-half hat-trick, while Holding's effort hit a post just before the break.
Although Arsenal were more than worthy of their 3-1 half-time lead, there was definitely a big slice of misfortune in their direction for the game's next goal. Vitali Gayduchik was adjudged to have pulled down Shkodran Mustafi in the box within four minutes of the restart and Giroud made no mistake as he scored from the penalty spot for his 100th Arsenal goal. I've got to admit though that is one of the softest penalties I have seen in a long time and we were incredibly lucky to even get it!
BATE refused to give up and Ospina had to be alert to palm away a free-kick from the hosts, but the side from Belarus did manage to pull another goal back 23 minutes from time. Ospina failed to keep hold of the initial header from Ivanic and Mikhail Gordeychuk was on hand to smash home the rebound.
Arsenal were still in control of the match, but the game could so easily have slipped away from the visitors had BATE not wasted a big opportunity 20 minutes from time. After a decent cut-back the ball fell to Aleksandr Volodko, but the midfielder fired his effort off target. It was a big let off for Arsenal!
BATE continued to try and find a way back into the game as Ihar Stasevich twice forced Ospina into a save, while Giroud miscued his shot off target at the other end.
Arsenal youngsters Marcus McGuane and Eddie Nketiah came off the bench to make their debuts in the final quarter of the match, which was great to see as the Gunners held on for the win.
GROUP H
There is still a long way to go in the group stages with four matches left to play, but Arsenal are exactly where they want to be at the top of the group with two wins from as many games.
Red Star Belgrade won 1-0 in Cologne and are now second in the group, two points behind the Gunners, and the sides meet in the next round of Europa League fixtures next month. October's trip to Serbia will present another tricky clash, but one I believe we can come out of victorious providing we play to our full potential and don't do anything silly. But we mustn't take anything for granted and need to take each game as it comes!
If I'm honest I'm still finding it hard to really get into the Europa League as much as I would like to at the moment, but I'll still get behind the team in any competition we play in and we definitely need to take this one very seriously.
As I've said previously top spot in Group H is an absolute must and anything other than this would leave me feeling very disappointed, but I'm confident we can do it.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
There were great moments and others not so good in Belarus, but we got the job done and won the match which is all that matters. Now that is out the way we must firmly turn our attentions back to the Premier League and the visit of Brighton.
We can't take anything for granted as there is no such thing as an easy game in the Premier League, but this is a match, especially with us being at home, that I feel we really should be winning and anything other than three points will frustrate me.
Before our next Europa League adventure against Red Star Belgrade we need to remain fully focused on the task at hand and getting a maximum six-point haul from Brighton and Watford. It is certainly doable, but we need to cut out silly mistakes and make our chances count!
September ends with five wins and a draw from six matches in all competitions, which is a decent return, but we need to try and up our game another level and let's try for a fantastic October!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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