UEFA Europe League
Result: Arsenal 4-2 Vorskla
Date: 20 September 2018
Venue: Emirates Stadium
African superstar Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagged a brace to inspire Arsenal to a 4-2 win in their opening UEFA Europa League clash on Thursday.
Unai Emery handed a debut to goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who joined the Gunners from Bayer Leverkusen, while Stephan Lichsteiner, Lucas Torreira and Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned to the line up.
After a quiet start, Leno was called into action in the 18th minute, with the shot-stopper producing a fine save to keep out Pavlo Rebenok's ambitious strike from distance.
The Gunners eventually broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute as the hosts broke on the counter led by Alex Iwobi, who slid the ball to Aubameyang for the close range finish.
Aubameyang was nearly rewarded with a second goal just before the halftime break when he rattled the upright with a powerful strike from distance.
Three minutes into the second half, Arsenal bagged their second goal as Mkhitaryan turned provider to pick out Danny Welbeck, who sent a header past Bohdan Shust.
It was 3-0 in the 56th minute when Mkhitaryan pulled the strings once again, this time feeding Aubameyang, who sent a fine curling effort into the bottom corner.
Substitute Mesut Ozil got in on the act in the 74th minute as the German slotted home from close range after getting on the end of Lichtsteiner's cross.
The visitors bagged a consolation goal two minutes later as Lichtsteiner went from hero to zero after giving the ball away on the edge of the box, allowing Volodymyr Chesnakov to pounce and fire past Leno.
The visitors were not done there as Vyacheslav Sharpar scored with the last kick of the game to reduce the deficit to 4-2.
