Can Arsenal win the Europa League? That Olympiacos performance suggests they can

                                         

The 3-1 victory over Olympiacos suggest Arsenal have exactly what it takes to secure Europa League success this season

By Adam Le Roux

Arsenal fans have been biding their time for a performance like the one against Olympiacos all season, but when it came along it was well worth the wait.

Every single man stood up to be counted in Thursday night’s clash in Athens, with the 3-1 first-leg victory over the Greek side paving the way towards a place in the last eight of the Europa League.

The intentions of the Gunners were obvious right from the first whistle at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, as they flew out the blocks and laid siege to their opponents’ goal.

When the chances weren’t being converted there would have been plenty of Arsenal fans casting their minds back to Turf Moor on Saturday, when Mikel Arteta’s side were made to pay for a number of squandered opportunities in the 1-1 draw with Burnley.

But Martin Odegaard’s opener changed all that, as the Norwegian netted his first goal for the club, leaving Gooners to breathe a sigh of relief.

And even when Youssef El-Arabi levelled for the hosts, you always felt another goal for the visitors was on the cards, and we got more than we bargained for late on, as Gabriel and Mohamed Elneny found the net to secure a crucial away victory.

Gunners were gorgeous going forward

That performance was a long time coming, and how good was it?

Right from the first whistle Arsenal were carving their opponents open at will, and it looked like a matter of when, not if, the visitors were going to open the scoring.

Odegaard skewed his first effort of the game wide after a couple of minutes, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s header was expertly tipped on the bar, but instead of the heads going down, the Gunners were relentless.

It was hard to believe this was the same team that couldn’t find a second goal against the Clarets on Saturday and have lacked a cutting edge throughout much of the season, as wave after wave of attack was launched on the Olympiacos goal.

And when the breakthrough did come, what a zinger it was. Odegaard has shown his creative ability in making chances for others since his arrival at the Emirates, but his belter from 30 yards was unstoppable - adding further evidence to why the Norwegian needs to be snapped up in the summer.

And even after being pegged back in the second half, Arsenal’s glass jaw didn’t shatter this time, and they fought back off the ropes to get themselves back into the game.

With the game on a knife edge heading into the latter stages, if there was going to be a third goal of the contest it was going to be crucial, and when Gabriel nodded that in ten minutes from time, it was nothing more than the visitors deserved.

And when Elneny is banging one in from 25 yards to round off the scoring late on, you know it’s been a good day at the office. If there was ever a perfect away performance in Europe, that was close to being it.

Arsenal escape another error

For a brief period of the second half it looked as if the Gunners had shot themselves in the foot once again, as Bernd Leno and Dani Ceballos got themselves in a pickle to gift El-Arabi the equaliser in Athens.

Heads would have been in hands as the visitors gifted their opponents back into a match - not for the first time this season - and undid all of their fantastic work earlier in the game.

They had already gotten away with one before the break when David Luiz was caught in possession, but Georgios Masouras could only fire over when gifted the opportunity.

We know Arteta is going to stick with this ball-playing style at the back but until the players can decide for themselves when it is best to just clear the lines we are going to see plenty more of these silly errors.

Luckily, it wasn't that costly this time around and there was no-one more ecstatic than Ceballos when the third goal of the game went in, with the Spaniard’s relief written all over his face as Elneny’s strike hit the back of the net.

Sorted for Spurs

We said earlier in the week that the next three games were going to be make or break in Arsenal’s season, and so far they have come up trumps with a superb away performance in Europe.

With three away goals to their name next Thursday’s clash against the same opponent has been made a lot easier already and as long as they don’t concede three goals of their own they will be home and hosed and into the next round - but this is Arsenal we’re talking about here.

Next up comes the North London Derby on Sunday and following such a resounding win, the dressing room will be buzzing ahead of the clash with Jose Mourinho’s side, knowing that the job is more than half done in the return leg next week.

The challenge now comes for Arsenal to transfer their European form into the domestic game, because the frustration this season has come after seeing the Gunners tear apart a team on the continent on a Thursday, only to look toothless in attack days later.

But if Arteta has put all his eggs in the Europa League basket then this was the perfect way to send that message across, it proves that Arsenal have still got what it takes to compete at the highest level and to look delicious in attack when they do so.

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