Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Merino, Eze, Saka, Trossard, Jesus
Subs: Kepa, Setford, White, Gabriel, Norgaard, Rice, Nwaneri, Odegaard, Martinelli, Madueke, Gyokeres, Havertz
Arsenal maintained their 100% record in the Champions League group phase after beating Inter 3-1 at San Siro, thanks to a brace from Gabriel Jesus and another from Viktor Gyokeres.
Mikel Arteta made seven changes from the team that drew against Nottingham Forest last time out, with Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Eberechi Eze just a few names coming into the side.
Ethan Nwaneri was also included on the bench despite a loan move to Marseille likely to be formalised over the next 48 hours.
FIRST HALF
It was a positive start for Arsenal had two sights of goal within 30 seconds, when the ball fell kindly to Lewis-Skelly on the edge of the box but his shot was blocked, before another well-struck Merino shot was blocked in the same passage of play.
The Gunners had clearly decided to press high and were causing Inter problems in their own third, and nearly capitalised on another giveaway when Saka broke down the right and tried to find Jesus in the middle – but the ball just evaded him on the penalty spot.
You could see Inter were rocked and Arsenal eventually got the goal their early pressure deserved, when some nice combination play around the box saw Timber scuff a shot towards goal, but Jesus reacted quickly to slide in and divert the ball past Sommer. 0-1.
But despite their dominant start, Arsenal suddenly became sloppy and were caught two or three times in possession before Sucic flashed an effort into the top corner after some bounces fell their way in the box. 1-1.
Mosquera did well to deal with Thuram initially, but Lewis-Skelly wasn’t aggressive enough to win the second ball before it fell to the Croatian on the edge of the box – Zubimendi couldn’t get there either – and he made no mistake.
Almost directly after the equaliser, Eze had a chance to swing the scoreline again but fired an effort wide after the ball broke his way in the box.
Naturally, the Arsenal changes meant midfield would be more open than usual and Inter had a golden chance to take the lead when Timber and Saliba were both caught upfield, but Thuram blasted over after Mosquera did well to cover two angles when isolated.
But it was Arteta’s men who re-took the lead from another corner – their 19th of the season – when Jesus was on hand to head home Trossard’s header from close range after it bobbled off the crossbar. Two of the smallest players on the pitch winning headers against a team of 6ft+ centre backs was very amusing. 1-2.
There was another chance for Saka who curled an effort past the post, before Dimarco stung the gloves of Raya after getting forward on the overlap before his second bite of the cherry was pushed out for a corner.
It was a messy half (tactically) from Arsenal which was expected given the changes but they held much more threat going forward in an open game; which felt like a welcome tonic to their stodgy league games.
SECOND HALF
After the break, there was another half chance for Eze who did well to turn away from pressure on the edge of the box but decided to place his shot instead of whacking it and Sommer saved comfortably.
Then it was Trossard who flashed another volley wide after Saka did well to beat Dimarco (again), before Saka should have put himself on the scoresheet after being played through by Jesus but delayed his strike despite being in acres of space and Bastoni got across well to block.
With half an hour to go, Arteta made a double change with Ben White and Declan Rice replacing Timber and Eze, with the latter justifiably frustrated at coming off despite not making a huge impact. Gabriel, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli soon followed for Mosquera, Jesus and Trossard.
Inter made several changes of their own and one change in particular, Pio Esposito, had a decent impact up front after replacing Martinez but wasn’t able to trouble Raya with a few efforts.
If Gyokeres was worried about Jesus leapfrogging him in the pecking order for United, he came on and knocked that idea back with a brilliant finish to make it three after combining with Saka. Martinelli set him free with a quality pass over the top, he got a bit lucky with the ricochet but curled the ball beautifully past Sommer who could only get fingertips on it. 3-1.
That goal killed the game and put the cherry on a delicious cake for Arsenal, who made it seven games, seven wins in the Champions League this season. They have also guaranteed themselves a top two finish ahead of welcoming Kairat Almaty on the final matchday.
Not a bad night in the capital for the boys in red.