A sublime finish from Aaron Ramsey was the pick of the goals as Arsenal confidently brushed aside CSKA Moscow 4-1 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
The Welsh midfielder opened the scoring after just nine minutes before Aleksandr Golovin levelled matters with a superbly struck free-kick, but from then on Arsenal controlled proceedings.
Ramsey scored a quality flick either side of goals from Alexandre Lacazette before half-time and, although the Gunners failed to add to their lead in the second half they still produced more confident and dominant attacking football.
Arsenal started the game in confident mood and came close to opening the scoring after just four minutes. Mesut Ozil, who put in a superb performance against the Russian outfit, combined with Nacho Monreal before picking out Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but the Armenian's shot went just wide.
Ramsey then saw a close-range effort ruled out for offside, but there was no denying the Welshman after nine minutes. A great team move ended with Hector Bellerin crossing from Ramsey to fire home.
CSKA Moscow were right back in the game six minutes later as Golovin hit a delightful free-kick into the top corner - it was a superbly-taken goal.
Back came Arsenal to restore their lead after 23 minutes when Ozil was tripped in the box by Georgi Schennikov and Lacazette made no mistake from the resulting penalty.
Then came the goal of the game after 28 minutes - the excellent Ozil lofted a ball over the top to Ramsey for the midfielder to flick it with the back of his foot up and over Igor Akinfeev in the visitors' goal.
At the other end Bibras Natkho sent his effort well over the crossbar and that miss proved costly as Arsenal scored their fourth goal 10 minutes before the break. Monreal's cutback was dummied by Jack Wilshere before Lacazette took a touch and rifled in his second goal of the evening.
On-loan Leicester forward Ahmed Musa tried to get CSKA Moscow back into the game by sending in a decent cross, but Alan Dzagoev blazed his effort over the crossbar from close range.
Arsenal continued to push forward, but were unable to add to their lead before half-time as Ozil's first-time strike went just over the crossbar.
The Gunners started the second half brightly, but Mkhitaryan shot just wide from a superb Ozil pass before Ramsey's effort deflected off target. The same two players very nearly combined for a goal soon after when Mkhitaryan's shot was fumbled by Akinfeev, but Ramsey sliced his follow-up over the crossbar.
Mkhitaryan was forced off injured shortly after the hour mark before a correct call from the linesman kept Arsenal's three-goal lead intact. Dzagoev's header beat Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal, but the CSKA Moscow man was pulled back for offside.
Arsene Wenger revealed after the match that Mkhitaryan has a knee problem and will miss the league match against Southampton, although the extent of the injury is unknown. It was also confirmed that goalkeeper David Ospina will be out for two to three weeks with an ankle problem.
Arsenal continued to try and add to their lead, but just couldn't make the most of the chances that came their way as Lacazette narrowly missed before Ozil's shot was palmed away by Akinfeev.
Lacazette didn't look too happy when he was subbed off with 17 minutes remaining and, although it would have been good to see him stay on to get a hat-trick, when he's been out with a long injury recently and the match was virtually won it was better to be safe.
Ramsey came close to grabbing a hat-trick with a shot from the edge of the box, but his right-footed effort hit a post.
Substitute Danny Welbeck tried to add further gloss to the scoreline, but the striker saw his shot saved at point blank range by Akinfeev.
There weren't to be any further goals as Ramsey sent a late effort wide, but it didn't stop the Gunners from running out worthy winners at the Emirates.
SECOND LEG
Surely taking a 4-1 lead into the second leg should be more than enough, but I am certainly not taking anything for granted.
We have a strong foothold into the semi-final, but we are not there yet. We must make sure we produce a solid performance and, most importantly, a decent defensive display to avoid any silly hiccups in this tie.
Playing away in Russia will be a totally different prospect and could be tough, but I think a three-goal lead should be enough for us and our Europa League chances are looking good.
Rather than give ourselves a mountain to climb in the second leg like we have done in other European ties in recent years, we did a decent job in the first match like we did in the last round against AC Milan, so hopefully it will pay off.
I won't get too carried away just yet as anything could happen, but our hopes of Europa League progression are definitely looking good as things stand.
If we do progress there is still a long way to go with a two-legged semi-final standing in the way of a place in the final and, with Atletico Madrid still in the tournament, nothing is going to be easy.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Before we can even begin to think about the second leg and progression into the semi-final, we must focus our attentions back to the Premier League and the visit of Southampton.
We are down in sixth and five points behind fifth-placed Chelsea. A top-four finish looks out of reach, but fifth isn't beyond the realms of possibility as Chelsea have been dropping points. If they lose any more we need to be ready to take advantage.
Southampton are currently in the relegation zone and fighting for their lives and, although I hope they stay up due to having close family and friends that support them, I hope they drop three more points when they face us.
If we can show the same attacking intent as we did against CSKA Moscow, but with extra killer instinct in front goal, then we should hopefully get another win.
I won't take anything for granted though and we'll have to be at our best to get a result, so let's hope that we are!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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