Europa League: Arsenal vs Olympiacos (away) Match Review

Arsenal vs Olympiacos. 1 word on every Gunner’s mind: revenge.

34th minute: Odegaard GOAL

Olympiacos 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal looked extremely dangerous throughout the first half an hour, and were finally rewarded with a goal. As the ball fell to Odegaard just right of centre, he laced it straight into the middle of the goal. The 25 yard strike was a beautiful knuckle ball that disoriented Olympiacos GK Jose Sa mid air and ended up going in via his forearm. A lovely strike to put the Gunners up and finally: FINALLY a Martin Odegaard goal contribution. Well deserved.

58th minute: El Arabi GOAL

Olympiacos 1-1 Arsenal

Oh no no no no no. Every single game. It was your typical Arsenal game’s timeline: dominate the first half, only walk away with a goal, make a costly defensive error. There were so many near misses that only God knows how we weren’t punished earlier. One was bound to be costly.

As Bernd Leno received the ball outside of the box, he had options in his LB, RB and Ceballos in the centre. Choosing Ceballos, the Spaniard got ambushed as soon as he touched the ball, resulting in El Arabi slotting the ball into the seemingly open net from around 30 yards. I defended Leno against Burnley but this one seemed to be his fault. If it worked however, it would’ve been a lovely combination: playing out of the back is a high-risk/high-reward strategy.

Arsenal’s 14th goal conceded this year. 7 of which have been from defensive errors.

80th minute: Gabriel GOAL Olympiacos 1-2 Arsenal

Just as Arteta and fans everywhere were crying for a goal to solidify our position in the tie, up stepped Gabriel. After a short corner, Willian (I KNOW. WILLIAN. 7th ASSIST THIS SEASON – HIS 5th IN 4 GAMES) sent in a cross towards the back post. Making contact around 10 yards out, Gabriel redirected the ball in a lovely finish back across the face of the goal. Really encouraging to see him start cementing his position in the team again.

85th minute: Elneny GOAL

Olympiacos 1-3 Arsenal

The statement still stands: Mohammed Elneny only scores bangers. What a hit. Picks up the ball close to half way, not pressured by anyone. Attacks the space beautifully and unleashes a shot from 25 to 30 yards out that had enough swaz on it the Jeremy Lynch would be drooling just watching it. A wonderstrike that went left then bent back right, cannoning in off the post. A terrific goal to boost Arsenal’s push for progression.

FULL TIME:

Olympiacos 1-3 Arsenal

A terrific win. We appeared to be on the ropes at times but managed to pull through well. Shabby defending that could have resulted in a draw or even a loss was not at all encouraging to see, however emphatic and outstanding striking ability saw us score 3 and propel our chances of advancing. Olympiacos now need to come to the Emirates and score a minimum of 3 goals. Surely not. Surely. Not.

Man Of The Match: Gabriel

I wanted to say Odegaard – but this man would not be denied. An emphatic defensive performance. A vital, game (and possibly even fixture) changing goal when we need it most. An assist (we will still give him credit even though Elneny did all the work). A top performance from the Brazilian.