Gunners shoot down CSKA

London, April 6: Arsenal romped towards the Europa League semifinals with a 4- 1 thrashing of CSKA Moscow on Thursday in a match devoid of any of the political tension that threatened to overshadow the tie due to frosty relations between London and the Russian capital.

With only around 200 CSKA fans making the long journey west, there was little bad blood inside the ground for the quarterfinal first leg.

And Arsenal quickly ended any doubt over the Arsenal contest on the field as Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette both scored twice in the first 4 half to surely put the out of CKSA’s reach.

Languishing in sixth in the Premier League, 13 tie points adrift of the top four, Arsenal’s last realistic hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League is by winning the Europa League in Lyon on May 16.

And that desperation showed in a thrilling fourgoal first 45 minutes.

Ramsey opened the scoring by rounding off a fine team move on nine minutes by firing Hector Bellerin’s cross into the roof of the net.

While CSKA unable to cope Arsenal’s speed of at the back. were with movement