Arsenal Win Big At Quarabag

By Max Wise 

Unai Emery’s Arsenal rose to a second consecutive win in the 2018/19 Europa League on Thursday with a 3-0 thrashing of Quarabag to go top of Group-E with six maximum points.

The Gunners went into the game having already beaten Vorskla Poltava by 4-2 at the Emirates Stadium, and the win at  Azersun Arena, in Azerbaijan, against Gurban Gurbanov’s men put the two points above Real Betis who drew at Quarabaq but beat Dudelange in Spain in the other group game. 

Alex Iwobi fed on a rebound in the penalty area in the 3rd minute, and unleashed a quick strike towards the bottom right corner that beats the keeper, but was cleared off the goal line to safety.

Arsenal had luck shining on them just a minute later when Sokratis deflected a shot into the net from Mohammed Elneny’s 4th-minute corner.

Emile Smith-Rowe missed a golden opportunity to double the lead for the visitors in the 18th minute when he shot wide the right post despite having a lot of space in the penalty box.

Mahir Madatov produced a nice move into Arsenal’s territory in the 26th minute and drove in a shot towards the right post, but which was smartly dealt with by Bernd Leno.

Mahir Madatov again pounced on a cross inside the box, a minute later, but lashed his powerful first-time shot wide the far post, and Filip Ozobic blew a huge opportunity in the 40th minute when Leno expertly dealt with his close-range shot.

Unai Emery replaced Nacho Monreal with Lucas Torreira before the restart, Quarabag’s Mahir Madatov had a goal disallowed for offside, much to the disagreement of the home fans, four-minutes after which Emile Smith-Rowe doubled Arsenal’s by getting on the end of a brilliant pass to fire a precise shot into the right post.

Gara Garayev had a great chance inside the six-yard box in the 62nd minute, but his low shot into the middle of the goal was brilliantly saved by Leno.

Matteo Guendouzi completed the beating in the 80th minute when he collected a pass and, without hesitation, fired an unstoppable shot into the bottom left corner.