Arsenal vs Qarabag: Alexandre Lacazette's goal in Europa League win proves point to Unai Emery
Arsenal 1-0 Qarabag: In front of many empty seats, Mesut Ozil and Lacazette put on a show as Arsenal's young side eased their way past their inferior opponents
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Your support makes all the difference.This is not what Arsenal risked their fame and fortune for. When previous manager Arsene Wenger helped convince visionary late director Danny Fiszman to mortgage the club to the limit and leave Highbury for this state of the art 60,000 stadium it was with the aim of earning the club annual fixtures against Europe's elite.
None they hoped, with increased revenue and support, would be more European elite than the Arsenal. Brexit? Never heard of it.
The two ex-Highbury men would have been proud of their work when their ground was packed to the rafters, the atmosphere crackling with excitement, for the two most recent Premier League visits of Liverpool and Tottenham.
The Merseymen escaped with a hard fought draw and Tottenham were sent back limping down the Seven Sisters road after a 4-2 thrashing.
And then along came Qarabag FK.
Arsenal's committed and not undistinguished Azerbaijan opponents were a whole hearted team, but their pedigree hardly matches that of Barcelona and Napoli – Tottenham and Liverpool's European rivals this week.
Those are the teams Arsenal players and supporters expected to be seeing at this time of the season and, for 19 consecutive seasons under Wenger they did.
His failure to sustain that into a third decade resulted in his ultimate removal from the club last season.
And last night was a reminder why - a dead rubber of a Europa League tie attracted an official attendance (tickets sold) of just over 58,000. But most of them must have come disguised as red and white seats or stayed in the bars.
Had those evident in the freezing, sparsely populated stadium lit a flare or started the odd fire, stewards would have rushed towards them to keep warm rather than sling them out.
At least those who braved the cold were entertained to some top of the bill names, albeit in an atmosphere more akin to a fading end of the peer Punch and Judy show without the violence.
Arsenal's 16th minute goal, for example, was enabled by a perfectly weighted Mesut Ozil through ball and a right foot shot of unerring accuracy and French flair from Alex Lacazette.
This was one of those Arsenal line-ups that says more of your standing under new boss Unai Emery if you were left out than selected.
Captain Laurent Koscielny's inclusion was understandable as he was finally fit enough to start for the first time in 224 days since rupturing an Achilles in the semi-final of this tournament back in May.
With injuries and suspensions limiting Emery's options for Sunday's trip to Southampton there is every chance the France international will be heavily involved again.
Koscielny got the biggest cheer of the night, aside from the stadium announcer getting the score wrong at half-time, when he was withdraw for a breather with 20 minutes to go.
A full debut for 17-year-old English forward Bukayo Saka was also not unexpected.
But Ozil and Lacazette?
Their selection in the starting XI was something of a surprise and does not bode well for their hopes of Premier League action this weekend.
Enigmatic German midfielder Ozil was dropped to the bench for last month's trip to Bournemouth and had been out suffering from mystery back spasms since.
Lacazette, the head coach's preferred striker at the heart of Arsenal's long unbeaten run has recently lost his role to the in-form Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
But to risk his fitness at a time when back up striker Danny Welbeck is out for the season was a gamble and indicative of his current standing. Or perhaps it was to get them both going again.
Did the big-name pair play as if they had a point to prove after all? Would they have stropped about sulking had Emery not prowled his technical area with the same intensity he showed to inspire his players to recent high-octane occasions here against Liverpool and Tottenham?
It was not overtly obvious, but neither shirked the challenge and they played a role in extending the club's unbeaten run to 22 games without the hint of losing in a group they had already won.
Now Ozil and the gang can look forward to Monday's draw for the knock out stage when Emery, a three time winner of the Europa League with Seville, will be paired with one of Brugges, Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk, Victoria Plzen, Fenerbahce, Lazio, Zurich, Glasgow Celtic, Slavia Prague, Olympiakos, Rapid Vienna, Malmo, Krasnodar, Rennes or BATE Borisov.
And not many of them are going to put bums on seats!
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