BAD FORM ...BUT GOOD LUCK
Aubameyang 75 pen, 86, Lacazette 89 pen
RATINGS mirror.co.uk/sport/football IF you can’t be good be lucky, so the saying goes.
And that summed up Arsenal perfectly yesterday.
The final scoreline was one many had expected at kickoff. But it didn’t tell a fraction of the story or provide a true reflection of the game.
For at least an hour Arsenal were abject and Stoke, looking comfortable, were on course for at least a point in their bid to beat the drop.
But the Gunners got lucky – first when Stoke’s Swiss international star Xherdan Shaqiri hit a post and then when they were awarded another dubious Emirates penalty which sparked a Stoke collapse.
Danny Welbeck was given one after a dive in the box against AC Milan in Arsenal’s previous home game, and yesterday Potters defender Bruno Martins Indi was harshly adjudged to have fouled Mesut Ozil when he actually toe-poked the ball away. CSKA Moscow, Arsenal’s next visitors in the Europa League on Thursday, be warned.
Striker Pierre-emerick Aubameyang scored from the spot and added his second before another spot-kick, this time converted by Alexandre Lacazette, earned Arsenal a win that was nowhere near as routine as the final score suggests.
The victory won’t do much for Arsenal’s Premier League campaign but it is at least a morale-booster ahead of that vital clash with the
Russians.
Winning the Europa League to salvage their season is now Arsenal’s top priority as beating Burnley to sixth place looks like the best they can achieve in the Premier League with their top-four hopes all but over.
But they will have to be so much better than they were against Stoke to seal the European glory that will