Arsenal went some way to rectifying their poor Premier League form tonight by securing a comfortable 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.
The Gunners secured a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League, and left themselves with an outside chance of qualifying first in their group.
Yaya Sanogo opened the scoring inside two minutes following a one-two combination with Santi Cazorla. Although there was a hint of offside to the goal, Sanogo did fantastically well to bring the ball under control and slot it coolly past Weidenfeller.
Alexis Sánchez then doubled Arsenal’s lead in the 57th minute when he received the ball from Cazorla 20 yards from goal, and bent an outstanding shot around the Dortmund goalkeeper.
Arsenal managed to close the game out well, improving the defensive side of their game following a hard-to-take defeat at the weekend against Manchester United.
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Yaya Sanogo seemed an odd choice to lead the line against Dortmund, with both Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell on the bench. However, the young Frenchman proved his critics wrong when he slotted home his first competitive goal for Arsenal after just 73 seconds.
Arsenal continued to keep the first half under control, stopping Dortmund from applying the pressure they often impose on a game.
Sanogo had the chance to make it 2-0 to Arsenal when he was played through one-on-one with Weidenfeller, but he hesitated and couldn’t take his chance.
The second half provided few clear-cut chances for either team, but Arsenal continued to stand firm and stop the likes of Aubameyang having any impact on the game.
In the 57th minute, Alexis Sánchez doubled Arsenal’s lead with a superb curled effort, which epitomised his season with The Gunners so far.
Arsenal were given little to worry about for the rest of the game as they closed out what was a surprisingly comfortable Champions League encounter.
Joel Campbell was disappointingly only allowed seconds on the pitch, as he took over from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had another brilliant game, in the 90th minute.
With this 2-0 win over Dortmund, Arsenal have set themselves up for an exciting finish to the Champions League group stage.
If Arsenal manage to beat Galatasaray in their final game of Champions League group stage fixtures, and Borussia Dortmund lose to Anderlecht, the Gunners will go through to the last 16 as group winners, giving themselves a better chance of progressing to the latter stages of the competition.
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