Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk: Gunners come out ontop
Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk: Gunners come out ontop. Arsenal edged past Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 on Tuesday evening at the Emirates Stadium to maintain their unbeaten record in the Champions League this season, thanks to an Dmytro Riznyk’s own goal.
The Gunners found themselves ahead at half-time following Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk’s own goal and could have extended their lead before the break it they were at least, clinical.
Leandro Trossard saw his penalty saved after the restart as Shakhtar threatened to stun the hosts with a late leveller, but the Gunners held on to the pressure to secure an important win before Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Liverpool.
How the game unfolded;
Arsenal’s superiority was established from the first minute as they made a fast-paced start on home soil and Riccardo Calafiori should have handed the home side the lead after just six minutes. One of the Gunners’ flurry of early corners fell kindly to the Italian but he blazed his effort over from eight yards out.
The occasional foray forward from Shakhtar gave Arsenal some food for thought but the Gunners made their dominance count just before the half-hour mark. It was Gabriel Martinelli who forced the hosts in front, darting inside and unleashing a shot that slammed the post before striking goalkeeper Riznyk’s backside and trundling over the line.
Arsenal would have doubled their advantage in the 39th minute if it wasn’t for an excellent piece of last-ditch defending from Shakhtar Donetsk captain Mykola Matviyenko. Gabriel Jesus redirected his header across the six-yard box for Kai Havertz to tap in from close range, but a lunging challenge from the Ukrainian denied the German forward from getting his shot away.
Havertz then turned provider for Jesus as the home side nearly found a second before the half-time whistle. The Brazilian was teed up by the German inside the penalty area, but was unable to end his nine-month goal drought as he fired at the outstretched leg of Riznyk.
Havertz would continue to pull the strings for Arsenal in the final third and found Martinelli inside the box this time within eight minutes of the restart. The latter had caused Shakhtar all manner of problems out on the left flank, but side-footed his effort too close to Riznyk’s gloves.
Arsenal were gifted the perfect opportunity to put the game to bed just as the nerves were creeping in around the Emirates. Valeriy Bondar‘s handball presented the Gunners with a penalty following a VAR review, but Trossard’s tame spot kick was rebuffed by Riznyk to keep Shakhtar’s hopes alive.
A comfortable evening threatened to turn sour in the closing stages as the visitors chased a surprise equaliser. Shakhtar flexed their muscles with some impressive counter-attacks and Pedrinho’s 92nd-minute shot would have secured a famous point for the Ukrainian side if not for an agile David Raya save.
However, Arsenal just about did enough to avoid any late shockers and bounce back from Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Bournemouth in the Premier League.
