sánchez keeps arsenal alive, ousts dinamo published: tuesday 24 november 2015, 22.38cet arsenal 3-0 dinamo zagreb alexis sánchez scored twice to earn arsenal the points and set up a dramatic showdown with olympiacos while eliminating dinamo by michael harrold from arsenal stadium
mesut özil heads in the opening goal on 29 minutes alexis sánchez scores in each half olympiacos loss to bayern keeps arsenal in with a chance of qualifying dinamo out of europe final group g games: olympiacos v arsenal, dinamo v bayern münchen (9 december)
arsenal made sure they will have everything to play for on 9 december in greece after a convincing 3-0 win against dinamo zagreb kept their hopes alive in uefa champions league group f.
the gunners are within three points of olympiacos after the greek champions' defeat by bayern münchen, leaving the gunners needing a win by 3-2 or better in piraeus on 9 december to reach the knockout phase for a 16thstraight season.
arsenal were far from fluent in the opening half hour. marko rog looked a threat up front for dinamo while paulo machado and gonçalo machado kept the gunners quiet in midfield. the sight of aaron ramsey warming up on the touchline was perhaps an early indication that arsène wenger was not happy with the way things were going.
suddenly, though, a lethargic gunners performance sparked to life with two quick goals. the first on 29 minutes was a sweeping move on the break which culminated in sánchez crossing from the left to the far post where özil stooped to head the home side in front. four minutes later sánchez added the second, touching in monreal's cross after the spaniard had won the ball back on the edge of the area.
dinamo heads dropped and arsenal might have had more before the break, eduardo twice saving well from özil as the interval approached. after the restart the pressure continued. santi cazorla and olivier giroud forced eduardo into two quick saves before sánchez put the icing on the cake on 69 minutes, rounding the keeper and shooting high into the net after a clever pass from joel campbell had sent him clear.
key player: alexis sánchez much has been said about alexis sánchez's workload, but the chilean never seems to tire. he provided the spark again here when arsenal needed it most, dashing forward down the left and crossing for özil to open the scoring then adding two of his own.
belief credit to arsenal – they dug themselves a hole by losing their opening two games in group f but have now given themselves the chance to climb right back out of it. few expected them to defeat bayern on matchday 2; that result is looking more impressive than ever.
all or nothing as the game wound down arsenal could have added to their lead, and on the basis of this performance they will travel to greece expecting to get the win they need to advance. consistency has been their biggest problem so far in group f. can they maintain this level of performance?
