KT provides a bit of sunshine in Gunners rout
KIERAN TIERNEY looked every inch the £25million full-back Arsenal bought from Celtic when he helped the Gunners to a resounding Europa League victory over Standard Liege.
Making an impressive Euro bow at the Emirates, the Scotland star regularly tormented the Belgian visitors up the left flank in tandem with Reiss Nelson.
And he endeared himself to home fans when his superb delivery after 13 minutes was headed in by Gabriel Martinelli.
Martinelli would ultimately steal the show when he scored a second just three minutes later. Like Tierney, he made his debut against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup before also making his first European appearance last night. But the fans will be equally happy with the contribution made here by their signing from Parkhead, who made several expert deliveries into the box.
Martinelli, 18, was a snip by comparison when he arrived from Brazilian fourth tier side Ituano for £6m in the summer.
While £72m club record signing Nicolas Pepe has struggled to make an impact and Mesut Ozil is struggling to get a game, the teenager is dishing out lessons in how to make yourself an instant fans’ favourite.
After two goals against Forest in the Carabao Cup, his brace here set Arsenal on their way to a second group-stage win and saw him become the youngest player to score a European double for the club.
There was a clever assist as well to give Dani Ceballos a tap-in to open his account in the second half after Joe Willock struck the third.
For Unai Emery’s side it is now two games, two wins, seven goals and six points.
Goalscorer Willock said: ‘One of my targets is to get more goals in my game and it’s even better that my goal and my team’s goals has also come with a clean sheet.’
Hector Bellerin led Arsenal out on his first start since his return from the knee injury he suffered against Chelsea in January.
‘It’s one of the best feelings to be back, it has made me more mature,’ he said afterwards.
‘The team is hungry and I am very pleased for the boys.’
Martinelli immediately hassled Gojko Cimirot to set up a chance Willock could not quite take.
Then came two displays of expert finishing. His first was a brilliantly taken header from Tierney’s cross, which was preceded by some excellent movement to confuse his marker Zinho Vanheusden and earn the space he found himself to direct the ball into the top corner.
Two minutes later, Martinelli had another Arsenal double to his name. Nelson did well to keep the ball in and drive to the byeline before crossing.
This time Martinelli got to the ball before Vanhesuden again, sorted his feet and spun on to his favoured right, before flashing a clinical finish past Liege goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, once at Manchester United.
Liege hardly had time to gather themselves before they almost shipped a third only for Willock to volley Tierney’s latest left-wing delivery over. The midfielder did not have to wait long for another Europa League goal having also struck against Frankfurt.
Tierney and Nelson continued to trouble Liege down the left and when the latter’s shot pinballed to Willock, it was his turn to control and fire past Milinkovic-Savic.
Twenty two minutes gone and 3-0 up. Already Arsenal’s second group stage victory looked to be in the bag.
Emiliano Martinez only had one save to make from Nicolas Gavory but that was just a routine one at his near post.
The half should have ended with a penalty when Nelson was brought down after being put through by Martinelli but Swiss referee Sandro Scharer awarded a corner instead.
Martinelli was back at the heart of things at the start of the second half. He was inches away from finding the top corner with a near carbon copy effort of his second goal against Forest.
Then he could not quite stretch far enough to turn in Nelson’s cross. Inevitably, he was involved when Arsenal finally made it four, as creator rather than scorer.
Martinelli burst on to Ainsley Maitland-Nile’s clever pass through to the byeline and his chipped cross cleared MilinkovicSavic, leaving Ceballos with the simple task of stabbing in from less than a yard out.
Martinez was determined to maintain his clean-sheet record and pushed over a drive from former Spurs youngster PaulJose Mpoku.
Martinelli was then denied a third once again by MilinkovicSavic’s shovelling save.
DEFENDER Willy Boly’s stoppage-time goal snatched a 1-0 victory for Wolves against Besiktas in Istanbul.
Ruben Neves floated a ball over the top of the home defence and Boly took a touch before turning and firing the ball past on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, who smacked the pitch in frustration afterwards.
ARSENAL (4-3-3): Martinez; Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney; Ceballos, Torreira, Willock (Guendouzi 74); Maitland-Niles (Pepe 65), Martinelli, Nelson 8 (Aubameyang 80). Subs not used: Leno, Chambers, Kolasinac, Xhaka. Booked: Bellerin. STANDARD LIEGE (4-4-2): MilinkovicSavic; Vojvoda, Vanheusden, Laifis, Gavory; Boljevic (Carcela 58), Bastien, Cimirot, Mpoku; Lestienne (Amallah 80), Emond (Avenatti 74). Subs not used: Bodart, Goreux, Lavalee, Fai. Booked: Mpoku. Referee: Sandro Scharer (Swi).