- Arsenal player ratings and more from Ostersunds win
- Mesut Ozil was among the scorers as the Gunners won 3-0
- This strong away result should be enough to send Arsenal through
- READ MORE: Arsenal hero Nacho Monreal puts Chelsea star to shame with ridiculous stat
Arsenal are in full control of their Europa League tie with Ostersunds after winning 3-0 away from home this evening thanks to goals from Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil.
While this will hardly go down as a classic, Arsene Wenger will be pleased to see his side all but secure progression to the next round as this competition presents a realistic prospect of European silverware and qualification to next season’s Champions League.
Here’s our Arsenal player ratings and more from tonight’s game…
Man of the match
It can be hard to pick out a single player in a game when most of the team seems to be slightly going through the motions, such was the gulf between the two sides this evening.
Still, we’re giving it to Mesut Ozil as he oozed class with his touches and passing, with most of the Gunners’ best moves running through the Germany international.
And of course, he helped himself to a goal, so he gets our vote, while there are honourable mentions as well for Nacho Monreal and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Flop of the match
Even though he didn’t get the unfortunate own goal, defender Tom Pettersson’s error was a bad one for Ostersunds and he struggled all night to deal with Arsenal’s attack.
And that’s an attack that included Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi, so that’s quite how bad his work in the home side’s defence really was.
To top it all off, he then had his penalty saved by David Ospina to compound his humiliation.
Stat of the match
Some weren’t convinced about Arsenal replacing Alexis Sanchez with Mkhitaryan, but numbers like this are what the Armenian is all about. A fine start to his life in north London…
Alexis Sánchez for Arsenal in 2017/18:
Games: 22
Assists: 4Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Arsenal in 2017/18:
Games: 4
Assists: 4— BT Sport Score (@btsportscore) February 15, 2018
Arsenal player ratings
David Ospina – 7
Calum Chambers – 6
Shkodran Mustafi – 7
Hector Bellerin – 6
Nacho Monreal – 8 (Sub: Sead Kolasinac – 6)
Mohamed Elneny – 7
Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 7
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 8 (Sub: Reiss Nelson – 6)
Mesut Ozil – 8
Alex Iwobi – 7
Danny Welbeck – 6 (Sub: Eddie Nketiah – 6)
Reaction
With David Ospina saving a penalty near the end, he’s become one of the main talking points given Petr Cech’s poor recent record in terms of keeping out spot-kicks…
Ospina>Cech
— The Arsenal (@KYEkye45) February 15, 2018
Ospina shoukd start ahead of Cech
— Kunz (@Adekunz1) February 15, 2018
if that doesn’t put ospina ahead of cech, i don’t know what will
— rodrigo feijó (@pilhoverman) February 15, 2018
Good job done. Should have scored more but decent enough win and clean sheet. I hope Cech watched Ospina’s penalty save ?@Arsenal
— Dan (@DanPace86) February 15, 2018
With that penalty David Ospina has done everything Petr Cech hasn’t been able to do, this game.
— Arsenal News (@ArsenalOneStop) February 15, 2018