Arsenal may not have been at their fluid best, but it was still job done after a 3-0 win in the first leg of their round of 32 Europa League tie at Ostersunds FK.
The Gunners were in control for large spells of the game in Sweden and should really have made more of it, but to score three away from home, regardless of the opposition, sets things up nicely for the second leg.
The starting line-up was probably the strongest we have used so far in the competition, which reflected that this truly is our best route back into the Champions League albeit a very tough one given some of the teams left in it.
Arsenal survived an early scare following a late challenge by Shkodran Mustafi, but fortunately the decision was given in the visitors' favour by way of a throw-in.
From then on the Gunners dominated with Danny Welbeck heading off target before Henrikh Mkhitaryan saw his effort blocked by the defence.
Arsenal continued to pour forward with Mesut Ozil pouncing on a loose ball before clipping it back to Mkhitaryan, but superb last ditch defending saw the Armenian's effort cleared off the line.
But Arsene Wenger's men made the break through after 13 minutes when Alex Iwobi's tame shot was spilled by Aly Keita in the Ostersunds goal, leaving Nacho Monreal to tuck in the rebound.
Ostersunds were struggling to even get beyond the halfway line as Mkhitaryan saw a shot blocked before his next effort was superbly parried by Keita.
Arsenal made their dominance count as they doubled their advantage after 23 minutes following a Sotirios Papagiannopoulos' own goal. A good passing move ended with Hector Bellerin putting the ball in, but it was stopped by the defence. Fortunately for Arsenal the defence gifted it straight back and Mkhitaryan's ball across goal went in off the centre-back.
Mkhitaryan saw a shot comfortably saved by Keita before Ostersunds gradually began to grow into the game. Salisu Abdullhi Gero's header was straight at captain for the evening David Ospina in the Arsenal goal, but the hosts came very close to reducing the deficit soon after. After gifting the ball straight to Ostersunds, Saman Ghoddos saw his volley from the edge of the area excellently tipped over the crossbar by the Colombian shot-stopper.
Ghoddos wasted another chance shortly after the half hour mark as his tame shot was comfortably saved by Ospina, who then kept out Curtis Edwards' deflected strike.
The game was a great chance for Danny Welbeck to prove his worth and put himself into the manager's thoughts for more game time in the Premier League. The recent injury to Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being cup-tied leaves Welbeck as Arsenal's main attacking option in the Europa League, but he didn't really take it.
He didn't have too many chances, but should have done better with those that he did. The England striker sent an effort over the bar before seeing another shot saved by Keita, although that one was pulled back for offside.
During a decent counter attack Welbeck maybe should have passed it to his team-mate Iwobi, who had made a great run, but instead he dithered and lost the ball.
At the other end, Ken Sema's free-kick was saved by Ospina before Ghoddos sent a shot into the side netting following a lapse in concentration by Arsenal. Mkhitaryan shot just over the crossbar as Arsenal took a comfortable 2-0 lead in at the break.
Keita failed to hold onto a ball in from Mohamed Elneny within 11 minutes of the restart, but fortunately for the goalkeeper his defence bailed him out to clear the danger. But Arsenal didn't have to wait too long to extend their lead as Ozil added the third goal shortly before the hour mark. The German international exchanged passes with Mkhitaryan before stroking the ball beyond Keita who got something to it, but couldn't stop it from crossing the line.
The second half wasn't very lively in terms of chances as Elneny sent a long-range effort over the cross bar after 64 minutes.
Ostersunds were handed a great chance to reduce the deficit in stoppage time when Tesfaldet Teki was fouled in the box by Hector Bellerin, but Ospina dived low to his right to save Tom Pettersson's penalty.
Maybe the scoreline should have been more, but 3-0 away from home is still a decent result, especially as we have struggled on our travels on a number of occasions this season.
SECOND LEG
FA Cup weekend is looming and the fact we have no game reminds me yet again of our embarrassing exit at the ends of Nottingham Forest.
This also means our next match is in fact the second leg of our round of 32 Europa League tie. Fair play to Graham Potter, who made eight Premier League appearances for Southampton, for the great job he has done at Ostersunds FK, but barring anything ridiculous we should progress without any real problems.
Being already three goals to the good should mean we are more or less into the last 16, but we need to make sure we take nothing for granted and we put in a performance to be proud of at the Emirates.
Admittedly the opposition isn't the greatest, but we need to really go out there all guns blazing and get another big morale boosting win.
With the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Lyon, Napoli and Lazio still in the competition, going all the way is going to be a huge ask so we need to go out there and prove what we are made of.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
It is hard to think too far ahead in the Europa League and we need to just take each game one at a time.
We are capable of going all the way, but assuming we cruise into the next round it could also falter at the next hurdle.
Depending on the draw there is the potential for some very difficult ties in the last 16 and there will be little margin for error, so we will need to be more clinical with our chances.
After the second leg is the big task of the Carabao Cup clash against Manchester City, where we will be huge underdogs, but we need to not give up hope and replicate our performances from some of our recent Wembley finals.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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