Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says his side took advantage of a nervy start from Ostersunds FK in their Europa League clash, with the Gunners securing a comprehensive 3-0 victory in the first leg.
Naco Monreal and Mesut Özil scored either side of a Sotirios Papagiannopoulos own goal to give the London outfit a significant advantage ahead of the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium.
Having scored their opening two in under 25 minutes, Wenger believes his side reacted quickly to Ostersunds’ apprehension, telling BT Sport;
We did our job and started well. We controlled the game against a good side. They beat Hertha Berlin here, 2-2 against Athletic Bilbao, so a quality team.
Once we opened the scoring we were in control. Maybe we didn’t push enough in the second half but overall we played a serious game, job done.
They looked very nervous at the start and we took advantage of it.
Ostersunds did have an opportunity to get on the scoresheet, however a Tom Pettersson penalty was tamely stopped by David Ospina. Arsenal now find themselves with one foot in the next round, and Wenger believes that his decision to train in London Colney instead of Sweden have been now vindicated. He said;
People wondered why we didn’t practice before but the warm up is good to adapt to the speed of the ball.
What is important here is the technical ability, the speed of passing. We adapted very well.
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