Aubameyang is bang on target with both barrels
STRIKER Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s two goals either side of half-time rubber-stamped Unai Emery’s decision to take the Europa League a little bit more seriously than in previous years.
It was a slow start from the Gunners and the road may be a long one but winning this competition, as the Arsenal manager did with Sevilla three years in a row, may well be Arsenal’s best route back to the big time.
Because after a pulsating week of Champions League football, this pedestrian win against a hapless bunch of European minnows in front of a half-empty Emirates is definitely not the big time.
Arsene Wenger used to use these Thursday evenings to give the kids a run-out. For Emery it was a chance to introduce nearly £50million of talent to his starting line-up for the first time.
Initially, all eyes were on Bernd Leno to see why it was that a £22.5m Germany international had not been made first-choice goalkeeper the moment the ink was dry on his contract.
When one of his first touches was a floated 30-yard left-foot pass on to the chest of Stephan Lichtsteiner that Liam Brady would have been proud of, it was even harder to fathom. Clearly this was somebody far more comfortable on the ball than Petr Cech.
Sadly it soon became clear that nothing about Vorskla Poltava was going to test his handling skills particularly rigorously.
Although eager to break away in search of some glory in what was easily the biggest game of the club’s 34-year history, the main aim seemed to be to get as many green shirts behind the ball as possible.
Which was where that other first starter Lucas Torreira was supposed to come in. For a player who has had to find his way into games off the bench so far, here was a chance to dictate play from the start.
Like a metronome he switched play left to right and back again but just in front of the defence and with little sign of a cutting edge. If only his ingenuity and nimble use of the ball was happening 25 yards further forward, where the Premier League side so desperately needed it.
For half an hour, Arsenal dominated possession but still had yet to muster a single shot on target. In the end, it was a rare sustained attack from Vorskla which led to the breakthrough.
Dmytro Kravchenko’s clever step-over did not seem quite so clever when Henrikh Mkhitaryan swooped on to the loose ball and charged forward 30 yards. A simple pass out to Alex Iwobi kept the momentum going and his cross was met by Aubameyang. Perhaps his inclusion was something of a surprise, but he showed why Emery was wise to include his most natural goalscorer despite the heavy Premier League programme by side-footing the ball into the goal.
A swerving effort just before the break from the same player that hit the upright would probably have flattered Arsenal, although Mkhitaryan followed it up with a shot saved by Bohdan Shust.
That said, Vorskla suddenly seemed easier to pick apart and three minutes into the second half Mkhitaryan crossed to give Danny Welbeck a simple close-range header. Then, in the 56th minute, Aubameyang added a superb third from the edge of the box after combining with Mkhitaryan before going off to warm applause.
Torreira joined him on the bench after a performance that gave encouragement to Arsenal fans.
Mesut Ozil was one of those joining the fray and took full advantage, poking in Lichtsteiner’s up-and-under cross, to just leave time for the obligatory Arsenal defensive howler. Lichtsteiner let the ball run through his legs to allow Volodymyr Chesnakov to slam the ball past Leno and Vyacheslav Sharpar added a second with the final kick of the game. It is just the sort of frailty that Emery perhaps fears will keep Arsenal out of the top four in the Premier League.
Undoubtedly, his call to take this competition seriously seems at this point to be a wise one.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno; Lichtsteiner, Holding, Sokratis, Monreal; Elneny, Torreira (Guendouzi 57); Iwobi (Smith-Rowe 70), Mkhitaryan, Welbeck; Aubameyang (Ozil 57). Goals: Aubameyang 32, 56, Welbeck 48, Ozil 74.
VORSKLA (4-2-3-1): Shust; Perduta, Dallku, Chesnakov, Artur; Sharpar, Kravchenko (Sklyar 70); Kobakhidze (Sergiychuk 77), Kulach (Da Cruz 75), Rebenok; Kolomoets. Booked: Sharpar. Goals: Chesnakov 76, Sharpar 90.
Referee: B Vertenten (Belgium).