Result: Arsenal 4-1 Rapid Wien
Date: 03 December 2020
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal put on a show for the returning fans at the Emirates Stadium after thrashing Rapid Wien 4-1 in their penultimate Europa League group stage clash.
The Gunners made three changes from the win over Molde last Thursday, with Pablo Mari, Sead Kolasinac and Mohamed Elneny getting back into the side.
The hosts got off to a quick start as Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring in the tenth minute with a sensational strike from range that found the top corner.
Mari doubled the ead for Mikel Arteta's charges in the 18th minute with a glancing header at the near post from a corner by Reiss Nelson.
Lacazette came very close to adding a third goal for Arsenal just before the half-hour mark with a curling strike from the edge of the box, but his effort crashed against the frame of theg oal
Eddie Nketiah eventually got the third goal for the Gunners on the stroke of half-time with a close range shot at the second time of asking after goalkeeper Richard Strebinger saved his initial effort.
Koya Kitagawa pulled a goal back for Vienna two minutes inside the second stanza with a close-range finish from a rebound after Kelvin Arase had two successive shot blocked on the line.
Arsenal were kept at bay from running riot by the heroics of Strebinger but substitute Emile Smith Rowe extended the lead for the hosts in the 66th minute with a tap-in from Ainsley Maitland-Niles' cross.
With the Gunners were still putting Vienna under all sorts of pressure, Callum Chambers came close to making it 5-1 in the last nine minutes with a header but his effort was cleared off the line by Ercan Kara as the North London out remain perfect in the group stage phase.
