Despite me not getting this channel on TV, I'm able to watch the stream through the Univision Deportes website.
9': Deflected left-footed curler by Saka forced a diving save, and Willock was a little too slow to react to the rebound. Could have been the opener. The kids look pretty good so far. The early impression that I'm getting of Saka, though, is that he's a bit selfish on the ball. He has dribbled himself into trouble a few times already.
16' GOAL Nketiah with good pressure to force a turnover, which knocks the ball back to Ozil who does his Ozil thing, plays a nice pass to Lacazette who smashes a low driven shot to the far post. 1-0
18': Good intervention by Sokratis to prevent a close-range shot on target after AMN got beaten in the air on a long diagonal ball. The Univision announcer LOVES saying Sokratis's full name.
Not a lot happening since the goal. Decent possession, no real chances. AMN and Saka don't look good though.
Halftime! Arsenal scored on their only good chance. Qarabag didn't. Qarabag is desperately outclassed, even against this squad. 68-32 in possession. This game is ********ing boring.
It can be easy to forget how good players like Ozil and Lacazette are until you see them in a game like this. They are so clearly a world apart from everyone else on the field.
62': Quick passing down the left leads to a decent chance in the penalty area for Qarabag, and their attacker almost completely whiffed on his shot. SUB: Zech Medley on for Lacazette. Looks like a back 3/5 with AMN given more freedom to push forward.
65': Nkeitah with a fantastic run into the area from the right wing. His eventual pass gets to Saka who snatched at it a bit, first-time, and it deflects out for a corner. From that corner, Saka takes his turn making a good run in from the right, but it doesn't result in anything.
69': Some decent dribbling/on-the-ball movement by Saka to work some space for another left-footed curling attempt that is easily collected by Vagner. He's clearly talented - just needs to figure out how to work better with the rest of the team instead of playing superstar ball.
72': SUB Koscielny off for Nacho, captain's armband to Ozil. Nice ovation for Kos on his return; he looks ecstatic.
76': The ball is in the net after a great counter, but Nketiah is just a touch offside on Saka's cross, and his header is ruled out.
80': Saka gets wrecked on an aerial challenge. Down for a minute, but appears to be ok. Welcome to first-team football, Bukayo!
89': Terrific run down the right by...I think Nketiah (edit: yes, Nketiah), followed by a great driven pass across the box. Saka has time to collect it, take a touch, and then blasts a left-footed shot directly into the goalkeeper's face from like, 8 yards. Vagner is down for a couple minutes, but we're back in action. Really should have been 2-0. 4 added minutes.
FINAL 1-0. Laca and Ozil showed their class, the defense was rarely challenged but the fullbacks (AMN and Jenkinson) weren't great when they were. Nketiah was fantastic, Saka started slowly but really grew into the game, Willock and Elneny did well together, Medley is really smooth on the ball for such a big player, and Gilmour didn't have any time to make an impact. The game picked up a bit towards the end, really favoring us, which says good things about our fitness, I think. On to the South Coast.
Potential R32 opponents: - Zurich - Celtic - Slavia Prague - Fenerbahce - Olympiacos - Rapid Wien - Lazio - Malmo - Krasnodar - Stade Rennes - BATE Borisov - Viktoria Plzen - Brugge - Shakhtar Donetsk - Galatasaray Draw is on Monday at 7 AM Eastern.
More like a training exercise than a game, but it was nice to see Kos back. He had very little to do defensively, but he did complete 62 of 62 passes, 9 of them long balls, so he clearly hasn't lost his passing touch.
It was a cold night for London, I think it was 0, unsurprisingly a lot of fans chose to not show up for a nothing match. Happy to see Kos and Monreal back in action and nice to see a good bunch of the prospects live.
Thanks for the match updates, @ArsenalMetro. Always appreciated when fellow Gooners do this. And @crazy150 gets to start yet another thread! a reasonably easy win with no new or aggravated injuries is everything I’d hope for coming out of this.