Arteta salutes ‘brave’ Arsenal as they clinch semi-final place
➤ Victory sets up showdown with former manager Emery ➤ Aubameyang misses match after revealing he has malaria
Mikel Arteta hailed the “bravery” of his Arsenal players as they produced arguably the finest performance of their season to keep alive their hopes of winning the Europa League.
Arsenal swept to a 4-0 victory over Slavia Prague to book a place in the semi-finals, where they will meet former head coach Unai Emery, now in charge of Villarreal.
Arteta reserved special praise for his young stars, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe, who helped to drag the team forward in captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s absence. Aubameyang revealed before kick-off that he had contracted malaria following the recent international break, and that he had spent two days in hospital this week.
“Credit to the players for how they approached the game and how brave they were,” said Arteta. “We put them under a lot of pressure and we were really clinical. For me it is a joy to watch [Saka and Smith Rowe] play, to watch them every day in training. How they behave, the passion and the commitment they have for the club.”
On a good night for English clubs in Europe, with Manchester United beating Granada 2-0, Arteta was not able to put a date on Aubameyang’s possible return.
“He is at home, he is fine,” said Arteta. “He will need a few days to recover from that.”
Arsenal’s players asked for permission to take the knee in protest against racism, doing so in front of the Slavia players before kick-off. The match came one day after Slavia defender Ondrej Kudela was banned for 10 matches for racially abusing Rangers’ Glen Kamara. “The players came to me, they wanted to take that initiative,” said Arteta. “We spoke with the club to make sure that we could follow the rules of Uefa and we can do it in the right way. We decided to take that approach, which I really like from the players.”
In this season of turbulence and turmoil for Arsenal, there have been occasional moments when Mikel Arteta’s grand master plan has been visible for all to see. It has not happened often enough, and there have been plenty of moments of despair and dejection as well, but every now and then they appear to be a team of genuine quality.
Against Slavia Prague, on a night when winning was all that mattered, Arteta’s players produced the sort of football he has been trying so hard to instill. They played seemingly without nerves, and certainly without hesitation, as they swept into the Europa League semi-finals for the third time in four seasons.
Unai Emery, their former head coach now at Villarreal, awaits in the next round. It is a delicious prospect, and one that should be wonderfully entertaining on the touchline as well as on the pitch. Emery knows all about Arsenal’s players, although he rarely saw them shine as brightly as they did in the first half in Prague.
“It was fantastic from start to finish,” said Bukayo Saka, the teenage sensation who excelled again on the right wing. “It shows everyone how exciting we can be. When we play like this, it is amazing to be involved. We have a chance of winning this competition. It is up to us.”
No matter what happens in the rest of this strange campaign, Arteta can point to this performance as proof that his overall strategy has promise. Slavia are a fine side, who had already defeated Leicester City and Rangers in this competition, but they were torn to pieces by Arsenal’s combination of youth and speed.
Not for the first time, it was the youngsters who led the way. Saka and Emile Smith Rowe were at their devastating best in a scintillating first half, carrying the ball with menace and combining with Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe.
In the end there was no need for Pierre-emerick Aubameyang, suffering at home with malaria, as the resurgent Alexandre Lacazette continued to lead the line. After scoring twice against Sheffield United on Sunday, the Frenchman added two more to take his tally for the season to 17, three more than Aubameyang.
After 90 minutes of sluggish and wasteful football in the first leg, Arsenal killed the tie in the space of six first-half minutes as Pepe, Lacazette and Saka all struck.
On nights like this, they make it look easy. Unfortunately for Arsenal, they have tended to follow up such performances with dreadful showings, swinging back into crisis mode due to their own maddening inconsistency.
It was the erratic nature of the team that had made this tie so nervy for so many of Arsenal’s supporters. A failure to progress had been deemed unthinkable for Arteta, who had insisted before the game that he had not even considered the possibility of Arsenal missing out on European football next season.
That prospect remains very real, though, with their league form so patchy. The Europa League is the big hope, and Emery represents the next big obstacle, but they will take hope from the clinical nature of this stirring away win.
The battle lines had been drawn before kick-off, when Arsenal’s players requested to take the knee in the ongoing protest against racism. A day earlier, Slavia defender
Ondrej Kudela had been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara.
Slavia’s players stood as Arsenal knelt, with Lacazette doing so on the halfway line right in front of the opposition. It was a powerful image, backed up by a powerful performance on a night when Arsenal’s season was genuinely on the line.
Arsenal had not played a game of this importance since last year’s FA Cup final against Chelsea. On that day, they rose to the occasion. It was the blueprint for Arteta and his players to follow in Prague, and they did so to spectacular effect. “We were brave,” Arteta said.
Smith Rowe had the ball in the net in the 15th minute, but he was denied by a Var check that revealed a marginal offside. It felt like a cruel blow, but it was forgotten a few moments later. Again it was Smith Rowe causing problems, dancing past a couple of challenges before
slipping a pass to Pepe. Without much space, Arsenal’s record signing still finished superbly.
Smith Rowe was soon off again, racing into the space behind the Slavia defence and picking out Saka. The teenager was brought down, the penalty was awarded. Lacazette doubled the lead.
Even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans could not have expected a start like this against a team with a formidable home record – and there
was more to come. Calum Chambers found Saka, who cut inside and drilled his finish into the corner like a man who had been doing this sort of thing for years, rather than a teenager in his first season as a forward.
The game was done already, with Arsenal content to sit back and wait for opportunities to counter after the break. Pepe and Lacazette took those chances and Lacazette soon converted again. Receiving Pepe’s cross, he shifted the ball from right foot to left before lashing his finish inside the near post. The European fight goes on. Arsenal’s season is not finished yet.
Slavia Prague (4-1-4-1) Kolar 5; Bah 5 (Visinsky h-t), Holes 4, Zima 5, Boril 4 (Dorley h-t); Hromada 5 (Masopust h-t); Sevcik 5, Stanciu 5 (Lingr h-t), Provod 5, Olayinka 4; Kuchta 5 (Tecl 71). Subs Stejskal (g), Kovar (g), Sima, Traore. Booked Hromada, Olayinka.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno 6; Chambers 7, Holding 7, Mari 7, Xhaka 8; Partey 7 (Cedric 79), Ceballos 7; Pepe 8 (Balogun 88), Smith Rowe 8 (Elneny 67), Saka 8 (Martinelli 79); Lacazette 8 (Nketiah 79). Subs Ryan (g), Hillson (g), Bellerin, Gabriel, Willian, Nelson, Azeez.
Booked Martinelli.
Referee Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).