A deflected goal by El Arabi in the 51st minute wasn’t enough for Olympiacos to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Europa League as they lost 3-2 in aggregate to Arsenal. Arteta’s men didn’t have the best of the nights in the Europa League as they saw a few of their chances created being missed but nevertheless, Arsenal has now been qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League and have now sustained this season’s only European Championship journey.
It was a frustrating night for Mikel Arteta as he saw many of the chances being missed and also saw few mistakes being made here and there which may have cost them the match. The captain and the attack’s spearhead Aubameyang didn’t look like his usual self as he missed some chances created by his team which when scored, may have helped the team to win the tie in a little more comfortable manner. In the end, Arsenal lost the match 1-0 to Olympiacos but won the tie 3-2 in aggregate.
Arteta made the right substitutions at the right time. Still, there were many questions that have to been answered by Mikel Arteta as to why can’t his team manage to keep their cool and use their game intelligence when they are under pressure. These questions have to be addressed by Arteta and should be able to find the solution as Arsenal has now been qualified for the Quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Olympiacos looked like the better team as they had 53.9% of the possession of the ball in the match having completed a total of 558 passes with a passing accuracy of 82.6% in the whole match and blocking 12 shots of Arsenal in which 5 shots were on target and kept the Gunners on the edge during the whole match. Arsenal was persistent to tie the match, keeping 46.1% of the possession having completed 483 passes in the match while having 81.4% passing accuracy during the match, and saw their shots being blocked by the Olympiacos defense. Olympiacos continuous attacks and some good finishes in the goal saw Arsenal conceding a goal. It was an exciting match for the fans of both the teams as anything could have happened.
ARSENAL PLAYERS’ REPORT
It was a good game for Brend Leno as he made a couple of important saves especially the one where he saved from his right foot to deny El Arabi in the opening 20 minutes of the match. It was not his fault for conceding the only goal of the match in the 51st minute as the ball was deflected by Gabriel and he couldn’t have done anything about it. All-in-all, it was a good game for Brend Leno as he stopped Olympiacos from scoring more goals as he didn’t get much help from the defense line.
Speaking of the defense, the defensive line didn’t have a good game as they saw Olympiacos players slipping through their defense. David Luiz looked a bit loose in his body language and was not as committed to the game as he was in his previous match against the Spurs in the Premier League. He lacked the intensity and the assertiveness in this match and let himself loose while El Arabi scored. Gabriel had a pretty good game as he was sweeping up from behind and won his ariel duos. Still, the shot which was going to be saved by Leno was deflected by Gabriel but he couldn’t have done anything as he had to drop down deep as his partner Luiz switched off himself and allowed the Olympiacos attackers to run in through those gaps.
Kieran Tierney had a good game defensively but still looked a bit off from his offensive game and looked tired in the second half when he was moving across the pitch. Whereas, it was a frustrating night for Hector Bellerin as he couldn’t communicate well or build-up any play with Nicolas Pepe. He was trying his best and there were some individual brilliance but still, he couldn’t link up the play up front.
Dani Ceballos was given a chance to play in the no.10 role for the first time by Arteta and he couldn’t make the most of his opportunity as he was too slow in his movements and kept losing possession and lacked the strength off the ball. he was pretty good in pressing upfront but still lacked the quality of being the no.10. He was replaced by Martin Odegaard in the 57th minute and he showed some promise in that position as he kept the ball moving and never let himself get under pressure and helped Arsenal in keeping possession of the ball in the second half of the game. Mohamed Elneny too once again played too cautiously as his passes seemed to lack the tenacity. He had a pretty good first half where, he recovered the possession from the opposition nine times, which was the most by any player who was playing on the pitch. Still, he didn’t kept the ball moving forward and thus was replaced by Thomas Partey in the 57th minute. Partey looked a bit pressured by the Olympiacos press in the opening minutes of his play but eventually as he played more minutes in the game, he calmed down.
Granit Xhaka had a pretty decent game as he too looked a bit pressurized in the opening stages of the match but composed himself as the match went on and it looked like he was the most relaxed player playing for his team in the match. Nicolas Pepe was energetic in the match as his pressing and aggressive running drives made a lot of chances for the Gunners to score. He had one of his good games as he may have seen his game being upgraded. Emile Smith Rowe also had a good game as he too pressed well and passed well to keep the ball moving forward and helping in creating chances for the other players to score. There were 2 times in the game where the ball smashed his head in which one being a powerful shot from Pepe which was deflected by his head and hit the crossbar.
And last but not the least, the Captain; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who wasn’t having the best of his nights as he came in very good positions to score but couldn’t score even one as he was lacking the finishing touch which we usually see from him. It was just one of those games for Aubameyang as he missed many chances to score.
MATCH TO LOOK FORWARD
On Sunday, Arsenal will travel back to London to face David Moyes’s West Ham United in the Premier League. West Ham United are having a good run-of-form in the League as they have won three of their last five matches and are now currently sitting in the 5th position with 48 points. Still, they will be coming to this match after a frustrating 1-0 loss to Manchester United and will look to win this upcoming match go back to their winning ways. Whereas, Arsenal are also having a good run-of-form winning three of their last 5 matches and will try to grab another 3 points and climb up in the points table.
