Gunners keep their cool in Norway
ARSENAL made light work of sub-zero temperatures and an artificial pitch to secure a comfortable 3-0 Europa League victory over Ostersunds.
The first leg of this Round-of-32 tie was played in the Jamtkraft Arena, surrounded by snow drifts and furnished with an unfamiliar 4G surface – but a strong Arsenal side overcame trying conditions.
Arsene Wenger got out of the group stage by largely utilising his fringe players and young prospects but, now sitting eight points off the top four, winning the Europa League arguably presents the Gunners with their best shot of returning to the Champions League.
Enter the likes of Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – and it was the former who rounded off a straightforward win after a Nacho Monreal effort and a Sotirios Papagiannopoulos own goal had set Arsenal on their way, with the hosts missing a late penalty. Graham Potter, the club’s English head coach, admitted Arsenal would provide his side’s toughest test yet.
Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck was critical of the artificial surface at the Jamtkraft Arena and said: “The pitch was a bit hard but we knew that coming here.
“We knew it was going to be difficult. We had to keep our cool. It was a nice professional performance from us.
“You hear stories about playing on 3G pitches after a knee injury but I felt fine.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said: “We did the job. We started well and controlled the game against a side who are good, you can see it’s a quality team, but I think we were in control.”