FREEZE-Y FOR ARSENE
Gunners on fire to take heat off boss
ARSENAL were red-hot in ice-cold Sweden last night as they took a giant step towards the last 16 of the Europa League.
Goals from Nacho Monreal, an own goal from Sotirios Papagiannopoulos, and Mesut Ozil’s third made it a frozen cakewalk, as Arsenal showed they are also big in Europe after Champions League wins by Manchester City and Liverpool.
Thursday’s return leg at the Emirates, which the entire 50,000 population of Ostersund could comfortably fit inside, should be a formality that is crucial for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger.
Hazard
The Frenchman named his strongest possible team, with the pressure now on to qualify for next season’s Champions League via the Europa League – thanks to the Gunners lying eight points off the pace in the Premier League.
Having played the youngsters in the group stages, suddenly Ozil was making his first appearance in the competition this season because there was no room for mistakes on the artificial pitch now Arsenal are in the knockout stages.
The 4G pitch inside the 9,000 capacity stadium could have been a hazard with the temperature down to -4c by kick off and wind chill taking off another six degrees.
The snowbound northern Swedish town is still in the grip of a fierce winter, with the mercury down to -23c last week – so this was regarded as a mild spell.
Snowdrifts were piled more than eight feet high outside the stadium and people were skiing to the game – but Arsenal didn’t freeze.
Ostersunds – who were formed after Wenger took over at Arsenal in October 1996 – have risen from the fourth tier of Swedish football to playing in Europe in seven years under English boss Graham Potter.
Danny Welbeck should have given the Gunners the lead but somehow put his header wide from point-blank range.
And, as Ostersunds began nervously, Papagiannopoulos had to clear off the line from Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
But the Swedes were caught again when goalkeeper Aly Keita dropped Alex Iwobi’s shot after a corner was not cleared and Nacho Monreal banged
in the rebound. Mkhitaryan then saw his shot pushed away by Keita.
But the Ostersunds defence collapsed again as the ball was given away in their penalty area and Mkhitaryan’s cross-shot was deflected into his own net by Papagiannopoulos.
It was looking like little more than a training ground stroll for Wenger’s team but then they relaxed – and almost paid for it.
First Salisu Gero’s header had to be saved by David Ospina, then Calum Chambers gave the ball away and the Gunners goalkeeper had to pull off a brilliant fingertip save from Saman Ghoddos’ dipping volley.
But then came another Ostersunds defensive blunder – and Arsenal’s nerves were settled just before the hour.
Mkhitaryan crossed, Ozil found space and shot low and his effort went through Keita to trickle over the line.
In the final minute Ostersunds should have had some reward as Hector Bellerin brought down Tesfaldet Tekie in the box.
But even then Tom Pettersson placed his penalty too close to Ospina, who saved easily.
Keita; Mensah, Mukibi, Papagiannopoulos, Pettersson, Widgren (Bergqvist 73); Edwards, Nouri (Hopcutt 46), Sema; Ghoddos, Gero (Tekie 46).
Ospina; Bellerin, Chambers, Mustafi, Monreal (Kolasinac 73); Elneny, Maitland-Niles; Iwobi, Ozil, Mkhitaryan (Nelson 84); Welbeck (Nketiah 83).
David Borbalan (Spain).