Arsenal barely broke a sweat as they maintained their 100% record with a 5-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Gunners cruise to 5-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk
Arsenal barely broke a sweat as they maintained their 100 per cent record in UEFA Champions League Group H with a 5-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Goals from Alex Song, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and Marouane Chamakh sealed the most routine of victories for the Gunners, who made it three successes from as many outings.
There was even a a round of applause when the opponents scored their consolation as Eduardo marked his return to Arsenal with a typically cool finish.
Cesc Fabregas was called upon by Arsene Wenger for the first time since sustaining a hamstring injury a month ago while Tomas Rosicky also came into the side. But there was no place in Shakhtar's starting XI for former Gunner Eduardo.
The opening exchanges were largely bitty, making for poor viewing. But in the ninth minute Arsenal fashioned their first chance, with, unsurprisingly, Fabregas involved as the skipper curled in an inviting cross which skimmed over the top of Chamakh's head.
Butterfingers
On 19 minutes, Arsenal took the lead. The home side won a corner following a dangerous Samir Nasri cross. The Frenchman took the resulting set-piece, and goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov was guilty of butterfingers as he spilt the ball, allowing Song to deflect home from close range.
Pyatov made some amends shortly after his howler when he parried away a rasping Nasri strike that came courtesy of Chamakh nodding down. Then Wilshere, dismissed at the weekend, was arguably lucky to escape a booking when he caught Tomas Hubschman with a late tackle.
The visitors demonstrated little in terms of an attacking threat, only winning their first corner in the 41st minute. And sixty seconds later, Arsenal, who had hardly broken a sweat, doubled their advantage. Nasri was the goalscorer, feinting and then firing in emphatically from inside the box.
Shakhtar boss Mircea Lucescu acted at the interval by bringing on Douglas Costa for Willian. And two minutes into the second period Lukasz Fabianski was called into action as Henrik Mkhitaryan fed Luiz Adriano, who saw his strike well saved by the Arsenal goalkeeper.
Spot-on
Arsenal's opponents shot themselves in the foot just prior to the hour mark as Luiz Adriano gave away a penalty after wrestling down Johan Djourou in the box, just seconds after being warned about committing a foul by referee Svein Oddvar Moen. Fabregas stepped up and made no mistake, planting the spot-kick home.
In the 63rd minute came a great cheer as Eduardo made his return to Emirates Stadium, replacing Luiz Adriano. The crowd then witnessed the best football of the match. Wilshere was the man to cap a sublime free-flowing move, dinking over Pyatov after playing a one-two with Tomas Rosicky.
Matters got even worse for Shakhtar in the 69th minute when Arsenal made it 5-0. Chamakh looked offside when receiving Nasri's dinked pass, but the flag, rightly, stayed down and the Moroccan, after glancing right to see if the linesman had raised his flag, tapped in.
Theo Walcott made his return to action on 72 minutes following his ankle injury suffered on international duty in September. But the game's final goal went to the away side, and, fittingly, to Eduardo, who arrived late to arrow in and draw applause from everyone in the stadium.
| Arsenal |
Team Statistics |
Shakhtar Donetsk |
| 5 |
Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 2 |
Corners |
3 |
| 18 |
Fouls |
15 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
5 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 88.7 |
Passing Success |
84 |
| 24 |
Tackles |
31 |
| 83.3 |
Tackles Success |
77.4 |
| 54.7 |
Possession |
45.3 |
| 60.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
39.2 |
|
