Arsenal ace Mesut Ozil scored a vital goal for Arsene Wenger’s side after breaking the deadlock against Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates on Tuesday night.
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After some excellent play from Alexis Sanchez, as well as a pivotal run from Olivier Giroud to open up space in the Zagreb defensive line, Ozil calmly headed home to give the Gunners the lead which they protected until half-time.
Sanchez went from provider to goalscorer just minutes later, as the home side made the most of their possession and continued to threaten to add to their tally as they slowly took control of proceedings.
Wenger was fully aware of the situation that his side were facing prior to kick off, as they had to win and hope that Bayern Munich did them a favour against Olympiakos in the other tie in the group on Tuesday.
The Bundesliga champions are certainly doing their part as they hold a commanding 3-0 lead over their Greek rivals at the interval, and so if things stay the way they are at the full-time whistle, it would set up a decisive clash with Olympiakos to determine who advances to the knockout stages with Bayern.
Aaron Ramsey wasn’t risked despite returning to training this week, as reported by The Mirror, with Wenger opting to protect the Welshman given his lack of playing time in recent weeks.
As a result, the French tactician opted to keep faith in the likes of Joel Campbell and Sanchez to provide the width in his starting line-up, and the pair did an excellent job with Ozil pulling the strings in a central role.
With Mathieu Flamini sitting alongside Santi Cazorla in a defensive position following the injury suffered by Francis Coquelin, Wenger will hope that his side can hold on to their lead which in turn would keep their hopes alive of progressing beyond the group stages.
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