By Daily sports on October 30, 2020

A flurry of goals either side of halftime from Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Nicolas Pepe gave Arsenal a comfortable 3-0 Europa League win over Irish side Dundalk on Thursday that puts them top of their group after two games.

The 2019 League of Ireland champions defended bravely, but their resolve was broken in the 42nd minute as goalkeeper Gary Rogers failed to get enough on the ball when punching away a corner and Nketiah fired home from close range.

Willock added a second before the break, snapping up the rebound from a blocked shot by Pepe and slamming the ball beyond Rogers as Dundalk’s defence crumbled.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors in the first minute of the second half as Pepe cut onto his right foot and curled a superb shot into the top corner to make it 3-0 to leave Dundalk reeling.

The visitors rarely managed to threaten a makeshift Arsenal defence with midfielder Granit Xhaka slotting in at centre back for a period, and as the game wore on Dundalk struggled to get out of their own half as the Gunners coasted to victory.

The result puts Arsenal top of Group B on six points and ahead of Molde, who beat third-placed Rapid Vienna 1-0, on goal difference. Dundalk are bottom with no points.

Elsewhere on the night, Belgian league leaders Antwerp secured a shock 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in their Europa League clash on Thursday thanks to veteran striker Lior Refaelov’s first-half goal.

The result was a second win for Antwerp and puts them top in Group J, three points ahead of Spurs and LASK of Austria.

Antwerp dominated the first half and went ahead just before the half-hour mark after a defensive lapse by Ben Davies allowed Dieumerci Mbokani to steal away the ball and set up the Israel international for a solid finish.

Four substitutions at the start of the second half reflected the irritation of Spurs manager Jose Mourinho, but Antwerp continued to look the more dangerous despite the changes.

Straight after the break it took a last-ditch defensive lunge by Tottenham’s Davinson Sanchez to deny the home side a second goal, before Mbokani had an easy chance at the back post in the 54th minute, but somehow managed to miss the target.

Simen Juklerod then forced Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to tip the ball over the crossbar as Antwerp kept creating chances, before missing a gilt-edged opportunity at the end of 72nd-minute breakaway.

He outstripped the visiting defence and had only the goalkeeper to beat but shot wildly over.

In between, Harry Kane came on for Gareth Bale but the Spurs skipper was also unable to ignite a comeback as Antwerp proved defensively solid to hang on for the win.

•Based on Reuters reports. •PHOTO: Celebrating Arsenal players.

Source Daily sports

Posted October 30, 2020

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