Arsenal 0 Red Star Belgrade 0: Gunners reach Europa League knockout stage despite stalement

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James Benge2 November 2017

Arsenal’s qualified for the Europa League knockout round with time to spare despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Red Star Belgrade at the Emirates.

Though Arsene Wenger’s side saw their winning run in the competition come to an end Cologne’s 5-2 win over BATE Borisov in means the Gunners are guaranteed a top two finish in Group H.

Wenger’s cup side bore only one change from that which had made such heavy work of Norwich in the EFL Cup a week ago, Joe Willock replacing Alex Iwobi in midfield.

Goalkeeper Matt Macey was retained ahead of Petr Cech having impressed against the Canaries and found himself much busier than opposite number Milan Borjan in a ponderous half where Red Star posed a consistent threat on the counter.

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Chelsea target Richmond Boakye’s pace consistently stretched Arsenal’s makeshift back three, in which young centre-back Rob Holding was partnered by a right-back (Mathieu Debuchy) and central midfielder (Rob Holding).

Boakye should have done better when he found himself one-on-one with Macey moments before the interval. Red Star had already been denied by the 23-year-old goalkeeper on several occasions.

Macey saved smartly from a long-range strike by Slavoljub Srnic and from the resulting corner needed every inch of his giant two metre frame to tip a Vujadin Savic header onto the bar.

Arsenal, meanwhile, found a Red Star defence that has conceded only three goals in 15 SuperLiga games to be as arduous to break down as they had been a fortnight earlier. Olivier Giroud had the Gunners only clear chance of the half, flicking an Ainsley Maitland-Niles cross at Borjan.

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The hosts were unable to move into a higher gear in the second half but were cursing their luck on the hour as Jack Wilshere was twice denied penalties in the space of a minute. First Vujadan Savic grappled him to the deck before the same defender then saw his attempt to block the playmaker’s cross bounce onto his hand.

The latter would have been harsh on Red Star but Savic could count himself very lucky referee Luca Banti did not award the first. Wilshere was cursing his own luck moments later when his delicate clipped finish over Borjan was scrambled clear on the line by Damien Le Tallec.

Even the introduction of last week’s super-sub Eddie Nketiah was not enough to break the Red Star damn but proceedings in Germany meant that was largely academic, with Arsenal cruising to top spot in Group H.