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Ibitoye Shittu
Legit.ng
– Arsenal were thoroughly dominant against Rapid Wien on Thursday, November 3
– Goals from Lacazette, Emile Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Pablo Mari were enough to see off the visitors
– The game was played in front of 2000 fans for the first time since March
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Arsenal continued their impressive form in the Europa League as they blew away Austrian side Rapid Wien at the Emirates stadium.
Lacazette scored his fourth goal of the season as Arsenal breezed past Rapid Wien.
Source: Getty Images
In what has been a torrid few weeks for Mikel Arteta’s side, the Gunners were in dire need of a response on the pitch and they were boosted by the fact that they were allowed to play the game in front of 2000 fans for the first time since March 2020.
The home side were thoroughly dominant from the start and took the lead in the 10th minute when Alexandre Lacazette caught the keeper off guard with a powerful shot for his fourth goal of the season.
Eight minutes later and Arsenal doubled their lead after Pablo Mari scored in his first appearance since June after meeting Reiss Nelson’s corner with a clever header.
Mikel Arteta’s side was guilty of blowing some good chances with Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe looking dangerous throughout the first half.
They made their dominance count, however at the stroke of half time when Eddie Nketiah benefited from some brilliant build up to head home a rebound from his own shot.
Rapid Wien were second best for large parts of the game but made a positive start in the second half as Koya Kitagawa volleyed home to make it 3-1 barely three minutes after the restart.
That goal was never going to inspire a comeback by any stretch as Arsenal were simply too dominant on the night as they played like a rejuvenated side with the presence of fans at the Emirates.
Arsenal could easily have scored six or seven more goals but were at times guilty of some slack finishing, with the likes of Maitland Niles and Lacazette missing some great opportunities.
They eventually got a fourth goal in the 66th minute after some nice build up once again saw Maitland-Niles feed square a ball to substitute Emile-Smith Rowe who easily tucked home.
Another major positive for Arteta will be the return of Callum Chambers, who was given some minutes in the game for the first time since he went out injured in December 2019.
In the end, Arsenal were too classy for Rapid Wien as they won their fifth straight game in Group B.
The game had some notable absentees as Arteta rested some big names including Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, presumably with the North London derby in mind.
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