Gunners within touching distance of Champions League last-16 after 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb
Arsenal 3 (Rice 2, Havertz 66, Odegaard 90+1)
Dinamo Zagreb 0
Arsenal are in a strong position to qualify directly for the last-16 of the Champions League thanks to a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium this evening.
Goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard mean the Gunners now sit third in the 36-team table, three points clear of the five sides immediately below the automatic qualifying positions - and with a far healthier goal difference.
A point in northern Spain against Girona next week will mean the Gunners definitely avoid having to face a two-legged play-off - something they could desperately do without given their injury plight of late. But they may not even need that single point thanks to tonight's win.
Zagreb were poor - the Croatians now look like they have an uphill struggle to qualify for that knock-out phase, lying in 26th position.
But as the old saying goes you can only beat what is in front of you. And Arsenal did That comfortably tonight, and will hope the victory gives them a boost of confidence ahead of league games at Wolves on Saturday and at home against Manchester City next Sunday - with the trip to Girona sandwiched in between.
The Gunners took the lead after just two minutes. Gabriel Martinelli beat Stefan Ristovski down the Gunners' right and crossed for Havertz, who brought the ball down into the path of Rice, who hammered the ball past Ivan Nevistic.
Minutes later Oleksandr Zinchenko, replacing the injured Myles Lewis-Skelly, saw a shot blocked when well placed - and Rice was in behind the defence again soon after, played in by Odegaard's through ball but seeing his shot well blocked by Maxime Bernauer.
Dinamo broke away as Arsenal pushed forward on 12 minutes but Jurrien Timber recovered sufficiently to block Ronal Pierre-Gabriel's shot.
But the chances continued to come for Arsenal - Gabriel heading a beautiful inswinging Odegaard corner narrowly wide of the post. By his standards, he should have scored.
Midway through the first half Raheem Sterling, who has struggled badly since he arrived at Arsenal, should have done better when Havertz cushioned Jorginho's pass into his path, but Sterling's touch was heavy, allowing the defence to clear.
Martinelli - another player struggling for form of late - then nicked the ball in the midfield and ran 50 yards towards the Zagreb goal before being denied by last man Samy Mmaee. Martinelli had his best game for some time this evening - his return to form cannot come soon enough.
But sloppiness began to creep into Arsenal's makeshift defence - Jakub Kiwior getting Timber out of trouble when the latter lost possession on the edge of his own area.
Sterling and Odegaard then combined on the edge of the Dinamo box to set up Martinelli, whose shot was true, but straight at Nevistic.
Arsenal continued to push in the second half, and doubled their lead on 66 minutes. Martinelli curled a beautiful cross from the left on to the head of Havertz, who simply had to direct the ball goalwards and past Nevistic.
Thereafter the game rather petered out, as is often the case when the cavalry of substitutes disrupts the flow of the game.
One of those replacements was Leandro Trossard, whose appearance marked 100 Arsenal displays for the Belgian. Another was the returning Ethan Nwaneri - whose introduction brought arguably the biggest cheer of the evening. A third was debutant Nathan Butler-Oyedeji in second half stoppage time.
With all of Arsenal's injured players bar Bukayo Saka either back or due for an imminent return, the Gunners, who added a third in stoppage time thanks to Odegaard tapping home Trossard's cross, will be hoping to resurrect what in recent weeks has threatened to be a wilting season.
Teams:
Arsenal: Raya, Gabriel, Odegaard, Martinelli (Butler-Oyedeji 90+2), Timber (Partey 59), Kiwior, Zinchenko (Tierney 75), Jorginho, Havertz (Trossard 75), Sterling (Nwaneri 59), Rice
Dinamo Zagreb: Nevistic, Torrente, Ademi (Misic 59), Bernauer, Stojkovic (Pjaca 75), Baturina (Spikic 87), Mmaee, Kulenovic, Pierre-Gabriel (Hoxha 75), Ristovski, Rog (Kacavenda)
Referee: Daniek Siebert (Germany)
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