Arsenal 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb: Gunners cruising to qualification

Arsenal coasted to a 3-0 victory at home to Dinamo Zagreb to move to 16 points in the Champions League – within touching distance of automatic qualification.

There was no unnecessary exertion in this game from Arsenal who were comfortable throughout and never massively threatened by visitors Dinamo Zagreb. Declan Rice scored early on, and second-half goals from Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard took them to the three points.

As it happened

Arsenal started very quickly with a goal in under two minutes. Gabriel Martinelli crossed in from the left side to Havertz, who laid it off to Rice to half-volley in past Ivan Nevistić. Despite their strong start, it took until the 66th minute for the Gunners to extend that lead. Havertz met a quality half-space cross from Martinelli to make it 2-0, and the German will have been relieved to score a header after so many have gone awry in recent weeks.

With 63% of possession and 17 shots, Arsenal could have had more. With 15 minutes to go, Ethan Nwaneri put a tantalising cross in for Rice and the English midfielder should have got his second ever Champions League goal, instead putting it wide of the right post.

Martin Ødegaard finally ended his goal drought in added time. The Arsenal captain tapped in Leandro Trossard’s deflected cross to put the result beyond doubt.

Arsenal clearly the better team but didn’t always play as though they knew that, potentially trying to conserve energy. However, a positive from the evening was Hale End graduate Nathan Butler-Oyedeji being given his Arsenal debut in the closing minutes.

Dinamo Zagreb got some openings on the counter but weren’t effective or efficient enough to create anything meaningful. The Croatians will need a win at the San Siro against AC Milan and likely a few favourable results elsewhere to advance any further in the competition this season.

The lineups

Featured image credit: Tom McAtee

Nick Bird

Football News 24/7