Europa League: Group A

ARSENAL 3 (Nketiah 23, Holding 27, Vieira 84)
FK BODO GLIMT 0

A FAULTLESS home performance saw Arsenal continue their winning start in the Europa League tonight (Thursday) with a 3-0 victory against Norwegian side FK Bodo/Glimt.

Mikel Arteta’s men were simply too good for the back-to-back Eliteserien champions, who just couldn’t keep up with the Gunners’ slick, quick passing at the Emirates Stadium.

Eddie Nketiah was once again on the scoresheet, netting his fourth consecutive goal in four starts in the Europa League.

Speaking highly of the young Arsenal striker, Arteta told the Tribune after the game: “What I can say is that I’m really happy to have him in the team. He has the qualities to play for this team in any role, as a starter or finisher [substitute], however you want to call him. We love his attitude and the qualities he has so we are really happy to have him.”

The Arsenal boss added: “His work rate, his attitude, his application is just phenomenal. He’s got this natural ability and he does it every time.”

Nketiah’s goal came midway through the first half as he reacted quickly to tap home the opener after Kieran Tierney’s thunderous shot had came back off the post.

Rob Holding got the Gunner’s second with a well-placed header just four minutes later, adding the finishing touches to a superb cross by Fabio Vieira.

Vieira capped a player of the match performance late on when he helped himself to a goal, crashing the ball into the roof of the net following great play from Gabriel Jesus, who skipped past two players before finding the Portuguese international just outside the six-yard box.

“I’m really happy with the result, scoring three goals and keeping a clean sheet,” said Arteta, who had made eight changes to his starting line-up with one eye on Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Liverpool this Sunday. “What I would give is that every game is difficult to win, and what we done tonight is make a lot of changes and give players who fully deserve the minutes a chance to play.

“There are still a lot of things individually and collectively that need to be done better and they need to keep their standards as high as possible and to try to reach the next level.”

Arsenal: Turner, Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney (White, 69), Lokonga, Xhaka (Odegaard, 58), Marquinhos (Saka, 58), Vieira, Nketiah (Nelson, 80), Martinelli (Jesus, 58)
Substitutes not used: Ramsdale, Hein, Soares, Saliba, Partey, Cirjan, Smith

FK Bodo/Glimt: Haikin, Sampsted (Konradsen, 88), Wembangomo, Pellegrino, Vetlesen (Gronbæk, 72), Espejord (Salvesen, 87), Saltnes, Moe, Lode (Hoibraten, 87), Mugisha (Solbakken, 72), Berg
Substitutes not used: Faye Lund, Sery, Amundsen, Hagen, Sorli, Zugelj