Arsenal made it two wins from two to start the 2019-20 Europa League Group Stage with a comfortable 4-0 thrashing of Standard Liege on Thursday night.
The Belgian outfit were no match for the Gunners as we raced out to a 3-0 lead before the midway point of the first half.
18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli scored two goals in the opening 16 minutes and set up another in an impressive performance from the Brazilian summer signing.
Unai Emery rotated his squad greatly from the team that drew 1-1 at Old Trafford on Monday night, also with a Premier League fixture against Bournemouth to think about this Sunday.
That allowed youngsters to impress the boss with the hope of getting some domestic playing time too. One of those that has already seen Premier League action this season, Joe Willock, made it 3-0 on 22 minutes.
Dani Ceballos madeit 4-0 just before the hour as we produced seven shots on target over the 90 minutes, compared to the visitors’ two.
In further positive news, Kieran Tierney was making his second start for us following his arrival from Celtic over the summer. The Scotland international arrived at the club recovering from an operation. Tierney has now played in a 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup, and now a 4-0 win. On the opposite flank, Hector Bellerin was handed the captain’s armband in making his first start in over nine months following his knee injury.
It was Tierney’s cross that set up Martinelli’s opener on 13 minutes.
Our next Europa League game will also be at the Emirates, when we take on Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes in three weeks’ time on Thursday 24 October.
