Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette put Arsenal in control of Europa League quarter-final against CSKA Moscow

Arsenal 4-1 CSKA Moscow: A first-half flurry put the Gunners in charge in front of a subdued Emirates crowd

Aaron Ramsey starred in an impressive Arsenal display (AFP/Getty Images)

Arsenal may be virtually certain to miss out on the top four, but they are now even surer to make the last four of the Europa League, after an easy quartet of goals in their quarter-final win over a miserable CSKA Moscow. An awkward second leg in Russia next week now looks a formality, just as this game was. Arsene Wenger’s side won 4-1 with two goals each from Alex Lacazette and the excellent Aaron Ramsey, but it should really have been about 8-1. That’s what the performance felt like. That’s how easy this was for Arsenal, who had Mesut Ozil absolutely purring.

The only blemishes were maybe an injury to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who had to go off, and that was there were so many empty spots in the crowd. That will no doubt change for what looks a locked-in semi-final, and that against a side that will surely be much better than an utterly supine CSKA.

Arsenal were at least fully vibrant, even if their stadium was not.

Their movement up front caused a lot of problems for CSKA from the off, although it’s difficult to quantify how much of that was down to the fact the Russian backline – and seemingly immortal Igor Akinfeev, Aleksei Berezutski, Sergei Ignashevich and Vasili Berezutski – have a combined age of 108. All of them actually played in CSKA’s victory in the final of this competition back in 2005, when it was called the Uefa Cup, but they don’t look likely to be going back there.

Aaron Ramsey celebrates his second of the night (Getty Images) (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

It took just nine minutes for Arsenal to find sufficient space to punish them, as an attack came back out to Hector Bellerin on the right. The Spanish international perceptively cut the ball back behind the mass of bodies rather than play it into them, where Ramsey was waiting. With no one within yards of him, the Welsh midfielder powered the ball into the roof of the net.

It was a fine goal, but there was better to come, especially from Ramsey.

There was momentarily worse to come for Arsenal, mind. Minutes after the goal, Laurent Koscielny got in a collision with Aleksandr Golovin, for the referee to award a free-kick just outside Petr Cech’s box. Golovin stood up himself and promptly – and precisely – curled it into the top corner. CSKA had an away goal, and could swiftly have had another. Ahmed Musa, who did seem to regularly try to exploit Shkodran Mustafi’s vulnerability to pace, got in behind only to fire his show wide.

Arsenal were sufficiently jolted. Ozil immediately went on a run that brought a wild unnecessary swing from Georgi Schennikov, and a penalty. Lacazette easily scored.

Arsenal were too good for CSKA (AFP/Getty Images)

Emboldened by the assurance of going back into the lead, Arsenal began to properly enjoy themselves. They started a move that resembled a game of heads and volleys rather than actual football, and ended with the kind of nonchalant finish you would see in a playground. The ball was swerved into Ramsey, and he flicked it over Akinfeev while facing away from goal.

It was glorious, but soon got glutinous.

Lacazette scored an incisive fourth before half-time, and Arsenal were taking every opportunity to go for an indulgent touch.

The French striker and Ramsey were now in a race to get a hat-trick, but really all of Arsenal players were lining up for chances. Ozil seemed particularly determined to score, but could only go close with his first few efforts, and couldn’t yet match the divine precision he showed in the assist for Ramsey’s flick.

Lacazette strikes with Arsenal's fourth (Getty Images)

It was remarkable at that point to think a side as bad as CSKA had made it as far as the quarter-finals.

Arsenal could only play what was in front of them, and were duly enjoying that. Musa wasn’t quite troubling Mustafi in the same way by that point, because the home side just had too much of the ball.

One response from CSKA was too much in a challenge, and that led to Mkhitaryan having to go off. It didn’t suppress Arsenal’s sense of self-expression. They were still just toying with CSKA.

Substitute Alex Iwobi seemed to be toying with the expectations of the crowd, though, as he so often opted to shot when a shot clearly seemed on. Neither Ramsey nor Lacazette could get their hat-trick, either, temporarily leaving Arsenal susceptible to what would have been a sucker-punch away goal. It didn’t come.

The many missed shots didn’t matter, and it feels like the second leg in Moscow won't either.