Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EUROPA LEAGUE BORIS DECKER
Wilshere, Walcott and Giroud show kids how it’s done.. but Gunners don’t have it easy
One of only two survivors from Monday’s win. Sluggish
Mertesacker
Next year’s academy manager got a view of the next generation
Holding
Leaped for joy after scoring his first Arsenal goal – then hit post
Nelson
Quiet game at right wing-back in his first European start.
Willock
The teenager took an elbow to the face in his first Arsenal start
Elneny
Did the dirty work for the team in the centre of the park
Wilshere
Ran the show in his first European game since 2014
Maitland-niles
Offered real overlapping threat down the Arsenal left
Walcott
Two goals and always on the move around the BATE box
Giroud
His 100th Gunners goal as he led the line impressively
SUBS:
Nelson (Mcguane 79) IN the tractor capital of Belarus, Jack Wilshere drove Arsenal to victory but it wasn’t an easy ride.
A quick-fire double from Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud’s 100th Gunners goal twice saw Arsene Wenger’s men race into a three-goal lead.
But while Arsenal went smoothly through the gears in attack, the defence stuttered and spluttered in a a wideopen match, which saw 34 shots, including 18 from the home club named after the local Borisov Automobile and Tractor Electronics factory.
Another home goal late on and Arsenal would have been properly in reverse.
Wenger left 10 first-team starters back home and gave a debut to 18-year-old Joe Willock and had five other teenagers on the bench.
Yet it was three old-timers who gave the Gunners their second win in Group H. And Wilshere, a veteran at 25, purred around like a Rolls Royce for most of his first European start since 2014 before he ran out of gas.
“He had an outstanding first half and he fought until the end,” Wenger said.
“He’s on his way back to his best and showed that tonight. He’s at an age where a player normally gets to the best of his career. He’s on the way up. He’s only been stopped by a series of injuries.
“Hopefully, I just pray, he is not hampered by any more problems and that will see him getting stronger and stronger. He’s shown again tonight that he’s not lost his football.”
Wilshere is out of contract at the end of the season. Asked when it would be time to talk about a new deal, Wenger smiled: “Not tonight”. Walcott, who has not started a Premier League match yet this season, is another contract drama waiting to happen as his deal runs out in 2019.
But his double act with Wilshere was first on show after eight minutes when the England forward hit the post after a neat pass – and then saw his follow-up shot headed clear by Nemanja Milunovic.
However, Walcott did not miss a minute later when he headed home a Wilshere cross from close range.
He doubled the lead after 22 minutes when he picked up a terrible clearance by keeper Denis Scherbitski and drilled a low shot home for his third goal of the season.
Walcott turned provider three minutes later, when his corner was flicked on by Per Mertesacker, and the ball defected in off Rob Holding’s shin for the ecstatic centreback’s first Arsenal goal.
But BATE finally got into the contest after 28 minutes, when Mirko Ivanic headed home a cross from Alexei Rios.
As the home side pushed forward, Willock got an unwanted welcome to the big time with an elbow in the face Milunovic.
Holding still had time to hit the post from another corner before the break, but Arsenal got the biggest call from referee Daniel Stefanski after 48 minutes. He gave a soft penalty for a shirt pull on Shkodran Mustafi, by Stanislav Dragun, and Giroud sent Scherbitski the wrong way.
Again the contest should have been over but Ospina could not hold a header from Ivanic and Mikhail Gordeichuk crashed home the loose ball.