A satisfying night for Arsenal, who have now won five of their last six during a month in which many feared for them. They head to Old Trafford this weekend with confidence and self-belief, especially amongst the key members that make this side tick, hopefully including Alexandre Lacazette, who dominated the first half of the encounter but was taken off at halftime.
The start was perfect, with Alexandre Lacazette putting the hosts ahead after just three minutes with a sharp finish after Aaron Ramsey took Granit Xhaka’s pass and returned it with a brilliant flick to put the Frenchman through. This unsettled Huddersfield’s game plan and their system, which had changed in the hope that they could give the Gunners just as much trouble as they had given Manchester City at the weekend.
It was all Arsenal though, with a happy Emirates in full voice, and the hosts had full control early on, with the first Terriers move forward snapped by Cech, who came to collect Lowe’s low ball. They could have regretted that instantly had Kolasinac not chose the wrong pass as he looked to cut the ball back across goal in a fine position.
Things calmed down a bit after that, with free kicks in decent positions from Lowe and Ozil not coming to anything for either side, and Alexis Sanchez generally being kept out of affairs, a considerable bonus for David Wagner at the time. Then there was a scare when Mustafi’s fine tackle, cleaning up his own sloppy loss of possession early
A typically lucid move saw a through ball from Xhaka to Lacazette, who cuts back and chipped a cross that was so accurate that by Cranie had to hook it off the line, with Kolasinac just unable to tuck away the rebound.
Huddersfield also had a strong penalty appeal, with Mustafi having a clumsy clash of heads with Mounie; replays suggesting that the German took at least as much man as ball.
Xhaka would create some danger for himself when nearly playing Mounie in, but the striker waited too long for cover – which was an age in coming – and the Swiss would dispossess him in fine style. Huddersfield, who had gotten back into the game in good style, managed to get in on goal when Mounie picked up possession after a pinball-style period and then before clipping a ball over the top for his strike partner Quaner. His first touch was too heavy however, allowing Koscielny to scurry back and block the shot.
At halftime one Frenchman replaced another; Oliver Giroud replacing the first half’s standout player, Alexandre Lacazette, to much confusion amongst the home faithful both at the ground and online.
Soon after they had their first Alexis and Ozil finding each other, the Chilean evading two tackled in the box and squaring the ball with the German then curling an effort at goal which was blocked by Cranie. At the other end Huddersfield, well and truly back in the game, would force Cech into an excellent stop through Quanier.
Monreal would save the home side not less than a minute after when he blocked Mounie’s effort with Peter Cech looking beaten, by the goalkeeper recovering to tip the ball onto the bar and out.
The woodwork was getting a lot of action and it would be Arsenal’s turn to strike it, Ramsey playing Giroud through with the Frenchman – who would turn out to be offside -making his way around Lossl but not Hayden, hitting the post and then the side netting from the rebound. Just before they had also had a penalty shout turned down, although it would have been unkind for the referee to penalise Quanier given the ball went onto his hand rather than vice versa.
Arsenal had begun to exert their early control on the game once again, and Arsenal’s deadly duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez combined in brilliant fashion to play a 1-2 before teeing up Oliver Giroud, who would not be denied this time.
The second goal brought an eruption of relief to the Emirates but the third was joy, the game sealed when Ramsey, outstanding through his 73 minutes on the pitch, found Mesut Ozil who was able to set up Alexis Sanchez to make the game truly safe. There was time for more goals, however, and Mesut Ozil took his own well-deserved goal to make it four, finishing off Aaron Ramsey’s pass to cap an evening that brought two assists and a goal.
The last major event of the night would come via Giroud again, who was found thanks to some neat touches and a domineering run from Sead Kolasinac, who effectively dropped the ball in front of him two yards from goal.
