Arsenal beat Inter Milan 3-1 at the San Siro to punch a ticket straight to the Champions League knockout stage proper. The win all but guarantees the Gunners will finish atop the table, too.* It guarantees a top two finish, which means Arsenal will play all second legs at home in the knockouts. It was a seriously impressive performance. Mikel Arteta made seven changes from the squad that started at the weekend in the Premier League, did not deploy his first-choice XI, and the rotated lineup convincingly
beat the Serie A leaders.
*Arsenal would have to lose to Kairat AND Bayern Munich would have to make up a 7-goal spread in goal difference.
Inter Milan needed a result tonight. They’re in real jeopardy of finishing outside the top 8 spots in the table and needing the playoff round to reach the knockouts. Take a second to think about that. A rotated Arsenal side that didn’t really need the win beat an Inter Milan side, the team leading the Serie A, that needed the points on their home ground!
And it’s not really all that surprising that it happened, either. That’s how good this Arsenal side are. They’re perfect in the Champions League league phase — six points clear with 20 goals scored and 2 conceded. They’re seven points clear in the Premier League, too.
A few more superlatives:
- Arsenal have yet to go consecutive matches this season without a win
- Arsenal just became the first top-flight English side to ever win an away game in four different competitions in the same month (PL – Bournemouth, CL – Inter, FA Cup – Portsmouth, League Cup – Chelsea)
- Only Manchester City (10) have enjoyed a longer CL winning streak than Arsenal’s current run (7) among English clubs
There isn’t all that much that needs saying about the match itself. The first half was a bit more open than you’d like to see — Inter looked threatening on the counter. Ebere Eze was disconnected and turned the ball over too much. Mikel Arteta and the squad still haven’t found the best way to unlock the talented attacking midfielder. The skill is there (not like that was ever in question), look no further than his brilliant turn and under-hit shot in the second half. Myles Lewis-Skelly looked a bit off the pace, too. But Arsenal were still the better of the two sides and took at 2-1 lead into halftime.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring for Arsenal, redirecting a blocked / scuffed Jurrien Timber shot into the back of the net. It was a just reward for an incredibly bright start from the Gunners. The goal clearly meant something to Gabriel Jesus, too. It was his first CL goal since returning from his ACL tear that kept him out for a year. The Brazilian has scored 6 goals in 8 CL starts for Arsenal and 21 in 31 overall.
Inter Milan equalized eight minutes later on a Petar Sucic rocket into the top corner. The Italian side broke well, but Arsenal looked to have contained the danger. Unfortunately, MLS’ block fell kindly for Marcus Thuram. The ball took two more deflections off Arsenal players into space for the Bosnian midfielder to run onto and blast into the net. I don’t want to take anything away from the striker — it was excellent. But the goal was pretty darn lucky, too. The ball could have bounced away three separate times and all three times it fell kindly for Inter.
The Gunners restored their lead just after the 30th minute. Arsenal took a long corner, beyond the back post. Leandro Trossard headed it back across the face. Gabriel Jesus, wide open in the middle of the six, headed it off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.
Arsenal were much better in the second half. Whatever adjustment Mikel Arteta and the squad made shut down much of the danger from Inter’s counters. Myles Lewis-Skelly, who had struggled a bit in the first half, started the second off with two excellent pieces of individual defending.
About midway through the second half, it occurred to me that it was still a 2-1 game. It didn’t feel that way. I’d completely forgotten that there was jeopardy in the thing. That’s how well and in control Arsenal played in the second 45. Young substitute striker Pio Esposito briefly gave Inter some attacking life, but Cristhian Mosquera did just about enough to keep him from scoring.
Mikel Arteta, perhaps recognizing that Mosquera was coming out slightly behind in the duels (probably in large part because the Ecuadorian is just back from injury), brought on Gabriel and Declan Rice and that was that. The Gunners retook firm control of the game.
Arsenal put the game away in the 84th minute with a quintessential “the other team committed too many bodies forward looking for an equalizer and got caught” goal. Gabriel Martinelli carried the ball wide and into space. Viktor Gyokeres broke through the middle with pace. The Brazilian played a fantastic, outside of the boot ball that the Swede collected really well off his chest without breaking stride. Big Vik shrugged off a foul and played a good ball to put Bukayo Saka in. When Saka wasn’t quite able to bring it under control with him, Gyokeres picked it up himself on the edge of the area and curled a shot into the top corner to make it 3-1. It was Gyokeres’ best attacking move as an Arsenal player. Hopefully that gives him the confidence he needs to keep on like that.
Both Declan Rice and Mikel Merino picked up yellow cards, which means that both will be suspended for the virtually meaningless home match against Kairat Almaty. They likely weren’t going to play in that match anyway and probably weren’t needed. The challenges looked suspicious purposeful, as if they wanted to clear the suspension danger at the safest possible time. They do run the risk of additional suspensions down the line, though. After the five yellow suspension, you miss a match if you hit 7 (and 9) yellows. As a reminder, all yellow card jeopardy clears after the QF to avoid players missing the final for accumulation.
Arsenal turn their attention to a tricky contest against Manchester United. You’d think that today’s win will buoy the squad heading into the weekend. An impressive win against a tough CL team, Gabriel Jesus and Viktor Gyokeres on the scoresheet, guys rotating and resting. I can’t think of a better way for a midweek match to go!
