This was serene for Arsenal, who will hope to avoid the best opposition in the draw for the Europa League round-of-32 and it is clear that they have a side that should be able to go toe-to-toe with any of the opposition teams in the knockout stages. BATE offered no resistance here, and those who braved the Emirates were duly rewarded with Arsene Wenger’s 700th win.
The first close chance came to the hosts in front of what was a sparse crowd, understandable given the dead-rubber nature of this game for Arsenal, who had made 11 changes. A Walcott flick-on was knocked back by Oliver Giroud and Mohamed Elneny swung his left foot at the ball, managing to hit the post with his scuffed effort.
It would take only ten minutes for Arsenal to get their noses in front, with Mathieu Debuchy’s shot blasting into the bottom corner. The Frenchman, scoring for the first time in three years, benefited from the endeavour of Theo Walcott in not letting the ball be cleared from the penalty box, with Debuchy smashing the ball right home into the bottom corner.
He would be the subject of a late tackle only a few minutes later, with left-back Maksim Voldoko, entering the book for his troubles. Arsenal had a lot of swagger about their play and Giroud did very well to find Walcott with an excellent header which Walcott did his best to get into the net, only to be denied when Denis Sherbitski saved exceptionally with his feet.
Mathieu Debuchy's first goal in three years is a special one ⚡️
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He got due rewards for his work when a surging run from the recently returned Danny Welbeck into the box fell to Walcott, who would made no mistake in putting the ball into the same corner that Debuchy had found just after 20 minutes. This was true cruise control for The Gunners and if it wasn’t for Scherbitski then the score would have been a lot bigger.
He could do nothing to stop Jack Wilshere finally returning to the scoresheet, breaking a drought that had lasted since May 2015 with a powerful finish through the middle of the goal, to the delight of an entertained crowd at the Emirates.
There was to be no change in gear but after 56 minutes the gap was four, achieved in the most bizarre fashion. Wilshere played a neat ball inside to reach Walcott, whose low cross found Welbeck before Polyakov inexplicably smashed the ball past his goalkeeper from the centre of the six-yard box - as if Arsenal needed a hand.
Even with lady luck on their side, this had become a rout; Oliver Giroud’s first penalty was a rocket that found the top right corner, and after Robert Schörgenhofe demanded that it be retaken, he chose the same side of the goal – albeit at a much lower angle – and then Scherbitski got his hands to it, but the Frenchman's effort still squeezed inside the post to make it 5-0.
With 72 minutes gone, amazingly David Ospina had something to do, racing to clear an interception, and then about 90 seconds later the gloss was being put on the score with Mohamed Elneny’s lovely curling finish, ending what was a very satisfactory night for the Gunners.
