Match report – Player ratings – By the numbers – Video

Well, what a thoroughly pleasant evening of football that was. A crushing Arsenal win, a rotated side playing extremely well, the top men rested a bit as the game was won, all topped off with a Ludogorets draw in Paris which sees us top Group A.

There were quite a number of changes from the team that beat West Ham with David Ospina, Rob Holding, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Iwobi, and Lucas Perez all brought into the starting XI. The Spaniard was making his first Champions League start for us, playing from the right hand side, and within eight minutes he put us ahead.

Alexis found Gibbs with a delicious ball which dropped over the head of a defender, he squared it to the back post where another defender fell over, leaving the former Deportivo man the simple task of putting the ball into the back of the net. His goal came in the 8th minute and double the amount of minutes later, he’d doubled the lead.

This time the goal came after some fantastic possession play by Arsenal, 33 consecutive passes before Ozil split their defence open for Gibbs again. This time he had a shot which the keeper parried, but Lucas was on hand to slot home for his, and our, second of the night. How nice is it to see that kind of controlled possession play with end product? A really lovely goal.

In Paris Ludogorets went 1-0 up.

It wasn’t all one way traffic, in fairness, the home side had a few moments where they created danger. The left back, Traore, fired a shot which curled just wide, Ospina had to make a save and grab it before the striker could put home the rebound, while Delgado headed over from a decent position.

The second half began with another Perez goal inside 2 minutes. Again Gibbs was involved, nicking the ball high up the pitch and fizzing a ball into Alexis. The Chilean couldn’t quite get hold of it, but it ran through and the ever-alert Spanish striker was there to fire home with his right foot. Perhaps the keeper might have done better, but what an impact to make in your first ever Champions League game for the club. He looks like a player who can really increase our efficiency in front of goal. In five starts and three substitute appearances he’s got five goals and three assists. He does good numbers.

Alex Iwobi’s first goal of the season came after another fantastic move, starting with Koscielny, then involving Ramsey and Alexis who found Ozil in behind. You always knew what he was going to do, and Iwobi had the simple task of tapping the ball home to make it 4-0.

In Paris PSG equalised through Cavani, 1-1.

After he’d been hacked down and crashed the subsequent free kick off the bar, Alexis Sanchez was taken off by Arsene Wenger who wasn’t going to risk him picking up any kind of injury. Normally the Chilean hates when he doesn’t play the whole game, but his sideline handshake/hug with the manager was that of a man who knew it was a sensible move. Giroud and Elneny came on for him and Ramsey, followed by Theo Walcott for Mesut Ozil.

At the back Rob Holding was playing his first ever Champions League game and although he made a mistake which eventually led to the Basel goal, there was such a lot to like about the 21 year old’s performance. He passed it with 93% accuracy, won all of his tackles, made 6 ball recoveries, 100% of his clearances made (5/5), 2 interceptions, 1 block, won 100% of his aerial duels, and made 100% of his aerial clearances. When you consider where he was this time last year, it’s very promising indeed.

In Paris Ludogorets went 2-1 up.

I have to say I liked the final stages , because we saw something we haven’t seen too much of in recent times – Arsenal simply controlling the tempo and rhythm of the game, passing it around, knowing we’d done what it takes to win. There was no need to go hell for leather, just see it out with as much of the ball as possible, and that’s what we did. As we entered injury time, PSG equalised, meaning another goal for them would see them win the group. The final whistle went in Switzerland, so all eyes were on the Parc des Princes.

In Paris Cavani spurned a late opportunity to win it for PSG and it finished 2-2.

He’s now missed more chances in this Champions League group than there are grains of sand on earth (via @StatsyJoeyJoeJoe). It means we top Group A, and regardless of what happens in the draw, we can’t complain. Winning the group was the aim, we’ve done that, and if it leaves us with difficult opposition, so be it.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger had praise for Lucas:

He scored more than 20 goals in Spain last season and he has shown why. He has an eye for goal and good movement in the box, which is why he scores.

And on winning the group, he said:

It will be difficult but we will have less guilt because we feel we’ve done the job by finishing first, and we play our second game at home. That’s what we wanted.

Overall a very enjoyable night of football, we did what we had to do, and Ludogorets did us a favour in the other game. The fact we were able to make so many changes and still click was very encouraging as well, and while other players will have grabbed the headlines, it would be remiss of me not to mention how good Granit Xhaka was last night.

If there were issues of adaptation, it looks like he’s over them because he’s quickly becoming an integral part of the midfield. He was like the fulcrum of our game last night, the ball constantly went through him, and making 104/111 passes shows how fundamental he was to the way we played. Those are the sort of passing numbers we usually see from Santi Cazorla, and it’s fair to say the Swiss international enjoyed a good night at his former club.

So, the draw for the knock-out stages takes place on Monday, we’ll find out then who we’re going to face, and we’ll deal with potential candidates etc at that point. We’ll start to look ahead to the weekend’s Premier League action tomorrow, for now enjoy what was an almost perfect night for the Arsenal.

Have a good one.