UEFA Europa League Report: Arsenal v Standard Liege 03 October 2019

UEFA Europa League   Result: Arsenal 4-0 Standard Liege   Date: 03 October 2019   Venue: Emirates Stadium   Arsenal stretched their lead at the top of Group F with a comfortable 4-0 win over Standard Liege in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.   Hector Bellerin, Reiss Nelson and Kieran Tierney were drafted into the side for the Gunners, whilst Emiliano Martinez earned his second appearance ahead of Bernd Leno.   Arsenal went ahead with the first 12 minutes after Gabriel Martinelli headed into the far corner following Tierney's pin-point delivery from the left.   Martinelli then pulled the ball out of his feet two minutes later and curled in his and the home side's second goal of the evening inside the area.   Sloppy defending from Liege at the midway phase invited Joe Willock, who fired home their third following a poor defensive clearance in the 22nd minute.   The Belgians steadily managed to pull together in the final moments of the half, forcing Martinez into a bit of action whilst at it.Tempo just upped a notch from the Gunners following the first half, as Liege struggled to match their more fancied counterparts.   Arsenal netted a fourth goal 12 minutes after the restart as Dani Ceballos reacted sharply to Martinelli's looping delivery to poke into an empty net from close range.   The home side introduced the game's first change 66 minutes in, as Nicolas Pepe stepped in for Ainsley Maitland-Niles with the balance of play firmly in control.   The Gunners finished strongly in the final minutes, managing a couple of half-chances from Pepe and Ceballos in particular. The visitors pushed for a consolation near full-time, but were unsuccessful as the Gunners held on to a successive clean sheet to top Group F in fine style with back-to-back wins.