LACAZETTE CAPS ARSENAL’S STROLL IN THE PARK

TWENTY-TWO games and counting for Arsenal. Unai Emery’s men weren’t overly convincing against Qarabag, but they didn’t need to be. Alexandre Lacazette’s first-half strike was enough to secure victory in their final Europa League group game. The win over the Azerbaijanis means Arsenal match their unbeaten run at the start of the 1986/87 campaign — George Graham’s first in charge of the club. They’re still quite a way off the club’s all-time record of 28 games unbeaten as Emery fielded an under-strength team at a half-empty Emirates Stadium last night. There were starts for Laurent Koscielny — making his first senior appearance since May after recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon — and Mesut Ozil, who returned after two weeks out

with a back injury. Club captain Koscielny said: ‘It was very important for me, now I start a new chapter in my career and I think I’m better in my head and physically. You have some difficult moments, this was my first big injury but you learn a lot about yourself and people around you.’ Arsenal’s breakthrough arrived in the 16th minute. Ozil was the orchestrator, although Simeon Slavchev’s slip left Qarabag horribly exposed. The finish was unerring, Lacazette (below) slipping past Rashad Sadygov and Badavi Huseynov to fire past Vagner. That should have signalled an Arsenal trouncing, yet it seemed difficult for the London club to summon the motivation to look for further goals — with their passage into the knockout rounds as group winners already guaranteed. Perhaps the biggest plus point for Emery last night was that Koscielny and Ozil survived unscathed. The performance of Bukayo Saka — on his full debut — also provided cause for optimism for the Gunners. Lacazette, Ozil and Koscielny were all substituted in the second half as Emery gave his star trio a break before Sunday’s trip to St Mary’s.