Ed’s note – I was unable to catch yesterday’s game. However, occasional Gooner contributor Tim Stillman (more often found on the Arseblog site these days) was good enough to step in for me and cover the article on the match. My thanks to him for the piece that follows…

Some 200 miles south of the Arctic circle, Arsenal were forced to take the Europa League off the backburner after being frozen out of the race for Champions League qualification via the domestic route. For all the talk about the sub-zero conditions, it was the home side that were caught cold in the opening half an hour, standing off their visitors with hospitable reverence.

So Arsenal lit a pipe and plonked themselves in front of the fire, passing in ever dizzying combinations in front of a star struck Ostersunds rear-guard. With Osterdunds so deep that they might as well have joined the shivering ranks of Arsenal fans behind their goal, Nacho Monreal gave the Gunners an early advantage. One wonders if we’re coming to the stage where Danny Welbeck ought to be watching videos of Monreal’s movement in the penalty area.

After another period of death by possession, the Gunners moved into a two goal lead. The Swedes indulged in a spot of defensive suicide that almost looked like a tribute to their well accommodated visitors. Despite being virtually outnumbered in their own area, Ostersunds tried to play out from the back, but by this point they were so deep that they needed snorkels to see one another. Arsenal accepted their hosts gift, with Mkhitaryan’s cross ricocheting off Papagiannopoulos (thanks for making me spell that) into his own net.

The home side took around 28 minutes or so to mount their first attack, forcing Ospina into a smart save. In doing so, a collective lightbulb went off for the beleaguered home team. Nowadays, there really is no need to sit off of Arsenal in massed ranks, if you attack them or pressure them on the ball, you are far more likely to reap some rewards. Why play for a draw at home against a team that is so beatable away from home?

Subsequently, Ostersunds huffed and puffed and the match resembled something approaching an equal contest for a while. But Mesut Özil, who played in that ephemeral way we have all come to know and love, looking simultaneously in second gear but two yards ahead of everyone else, collected a Mkhitaryan pass and bundled it past the hapless goalkeeper. The goal didn’t so much put the game to bed as tuck it in with a steaming hot cup of cocoa.

The Gunners did have time to achieve the remarkable distinction of repelling a penalty. In stoppage time, Bellerin appeared to hastily slide in, then pull out of a challenge in the area. The Ostersunds man went down and the ref blew for a spot kick. For the first time since March 2014, an Arsenal goalkeeper saved a spot kick in open play as Ospina stretched and not only saved, but held the penalty, clutching the ball to his grateful bosom in the process.

Arsenal ought to be able to keep their big guns on ice for the second leg. They were able to qualify in first position in their group with a scratch team, so they really ought to be able to not lose 4-0 at home to Ostersunds. Mkhitaryan cannot play in the Carabao Cup Final, so Arsene can continue his acclimatisation by giving him a run out. Hopefully, Danny Welbeck won’t be required as anything other than a sub at Wembley, so he can probably start too.

If Wenger is looking for an insurance policy, he could wrap Mesut up on the bench with a blanky and a hot water bottle. But in reality, the second string ought to be able to handle light duties in the second leg. The likes of Holding, Nelson, Maitland Niles, Willock, Chambers and maybe even forgotten man Sead Kolasinac could probably do with the minutes in any case.

Arsenal have had to rapidly downgrade their ambitions for the season, so the Europa League moves from afterthought to ultimate aspiration in a few short months. The result in Sweden ought to be enough to see them through to the round of 16 and, I guess, the second leg will be played out in front of a mise-en-scene of red seats again.

That the fate of the season now rests on the Carabao Cup and the Europa League says much about the club’s managed decline, but we are where we are and the Gunners have a foot and three quarters in the next round of the competition and can now cast a meaningful eye on another Wembley date in nine days’ time, which ought to warm the cockles for now.

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