Gunners Lengthen Fluency in Europa League Form

Arsenal welcomed back to the Emirates Stadium a section of its fanbase as it cruised past Rapid Vienna in Matchday 5 of the Europa League on Thursday night.

It was the first time supporters would be granted access to our home ground since March 7 when the COVID-19 put a halt to the previous football campaign, and it is good that the 2000 fans were given no reason to regret their return. 

The lively chants of the few made it look like the stadium was packed to full capacity. Their presence played a positive role as it later had an impact on the final result.

After watching from the screen for several months, those present had the opportunity to witness their first live goal from their team within a short time. With just ten minutes played, Alexandre Lacazette stunned the crowd with his masterclass.

From twenty-five yards, the Frenchman rocketed one into the net to resume goalscoring after going barren on the goal front in the last eight games he featured in.,

Nicolas Pepe aided Shkodran Mustafi's header which could not go in but shortly after, Reiss Nelson picked Pablo Mari through a corner and the defender opened his Arsenal goalscoring account with a well-directed header. It was a happy moment for Mari who was sidelined for six months.

Lacazette was close to getting another but hit the bar while Ainsley Maitland-Niles hit one wide following a run

Pepe, Lacazette, and Nelson combined well to drive an attack which fell to Eddie Nketiah to give us our third for the night before the halftime whistle.

Rapid Vienna got one almost immediately after restart as Koya Kitagawa fired home despite Sead Kolasinac's earlier resilience.

Maitland-Niles had another attempt in goal but this time, he had his strike saved. Pepe also had two tries in moments.

Emile Smith Rowe came on as a substitute to later earn us our fourth goal in the encounter. The win made it five wins out of five in the Europa League group stage.

Arsenal remain top of Group B with fifteen points with a game to go. The result of the last match will make no positional changes. We are sure to finish first and qualify to the knockout phase of the competition.

Another positive from the night was the return of Calum Chambers who had been out through injury since December 2019. He came on to play in the last twenty minutes of the game.

The fans presented a standing ovation for the side's outstanding performance and they also reciprocated by thanking them for standing by them all through.

We now focus on our coming game which will be a big one. it's the North London derbny against Tottenham this Sunday