When Arsenal drew Monaco in the last 16, every single Arsenal fan exclaimed in joy as they felt that this was the easiest draw available for them. Me included. For the past 5 seasons this was the stage Arsenal were knocked out from in the UCL. This seemed the chance to probably push further more.
Arsenal were up against a Monaco side who had lost just 1 match in the last 17 and had progressed from the group stage conceding just one goal. Monaco weren't helped by the fact that most key players were missing for them with knocks or injuries. Left Back Kurzawa, winger Carrasco however were fit enough to be on the bench.
Monaco featured a squad with a combined age of 22, featuring a lot of teenagers in their starting XI. Arsenal started with Ospina in goal, Bellerin and Gibbs as fullbacks. Mertesacker and Koscielny were paired in the centre of defence. In midfield it was the trio of Ozil, Cazorla and Coquelin. Welbeck continued ahead of Walcott and Sanchez on the opposite flank. Giroud led the line.
1st HALF
Arsenal started the better side with some decent passes around. Welbeck had the first attempt just firing over. Monaco looked dangerous out wide, with Martial in particular toying around Bellerin.
Arsenal needed a spark to bring the game to life, and they nearly found it just after the half-hour mark as Ozil found Alexis in the box and the Chilean chipped inches over the bar.
But on the whole, they found it tough going against an obdurate, well-organised Monaco side who gave them precious little encouragement as they sought the breakthrough.
As we were approaching the end of the half, Kondogbia had a long range attempt that deflected of a hapless Mertesacker into the goal to give Monaco a shock lead.
2nd HALF
Arsenal started brighter in the second half, with Giroud guilty of missing some easy chances. First missing a cutback by Alexis and later heading over a free kick from Cazorla.
Soon a counter attack by Monaco and another poor decision by Mertesacker to commit when he shouldn't have ensured Monaco doubled their lead. Arsenal could have and should have pulled a goal back when Giroud missed an open goal after a parry by the Monaco keeper.
Ospina then had to deny Martial to prevent a 3 goal lead. Walcott on as a substitute drew a brilliant save off Subasic and then blocked Welbeck's rebound. Nothing seemed to be going right for the Arsenal team.
Finally a goal was scored by Oxlade-Chamberlain in injury time as he kept his composure on the edge of the area and curled a delightful shot into the top corner.
Moments later however as Arsenal pushed forward Ferreira-Carrasco broke through the middle and slotted beyond Ospina to put Arsenal with a near impossible task ahead of the second leg in the south of France.
PLAYER RATINGS
13: David Ospina (4.5): Could've in my opinion done better for the first goal and certainly the 3rd goal. Very poor performance.
39: Hector Bellerin (5): Struggled defensively against Martial and offensively did not do too much either.
4: Per Mertesacker (2): Absolutely shocking. Nothing else one can say for such a pathetic display.
6: Laurent Koscielny (3): As shocking as the rest of the defence. Almost cost the team another goal with a wayward back pass.
3: Kieran Gibbs (3): Probably was picked for his pace to defend against counter attacks. Was absolutely shocking.
34: Francis Coquelin (4): His worst game in an Arsenal shirt. Appalling.
19: Santi Cazorla (4): Lost the ball way too often, something very uncharacteristic of him.
17: Alexis Sanchez (4): Very poor performance. Has not scored for 6 games now.
23: Danny Welbeck (4): Nothing quiet worked out for him, but as much effort he puts without the goals as a forward it is useless.
11: Mesut Ozil (4): People blaming him. He was just one of all our torrid performers.
12: Olivier Giroud (1): The worst striker performance I have seen since that Bendtner game against Burnley. Worse than that as well.
SUBSTITUTES:
7: Tomas Rosicky (5): Upped the tempo after he came on and put a dew decent passes.
15: Oxlade-Chamberlain (5): Scored a great goal, but was responsible for the 3rd goal and lost the ball on numerous occasions.
14: Theo Walcott (5): Had one decent chance of which he produced a decent save.
Arsenal were up against a Monaco side who had lost just 1 match in the last 17 and had progressed from the group stage conceding just one goal. Monaco weren't helped by the fact that most key players were missing for them with knocks or injuries. Left Back Kurzawa, winger Carrasco however were fit enough to be on the bench.
Monaco featured a squad with a combined age of 22, featuring a lot of teenagers in their starting XI. Arsenal started with Ospina in goal, Bellerin and Gibbs as fullbacks. Mertesacker and Koscielny were paired in the centre of defence. In midfield it was the trio of Ozil, Cazorla and Coquelin. Welbeck continued ahead of Walcott and Sanchez on the opposite flank. Giroud led the line.
1st HALF
Arsenal started the better side with some decent passes around. Welbeck had the first attempt just firing over. Monaco looked dangerous out wide, with Martial in particular toying around Bellerin.
Arsenal needed a spark to bring the game to life, and they nearly found it just after the half-hour mark as Ozil found Alexis in the box and the Chilean chipped inches over the bar.
But on the whole, they found it tough going against an obdurate, well-organised Monaco side who gave them precious little encouragement as they sought the breakthrough.
As we were approaching the end of the half, Kondogbia had a long range attempt that deflected of a hapless Mertesacker into the goal to give Monaco a shock lead.
2nd HALF
Arsenal started brighter in the second half, with Giroud guilty of missing some easy chances. First missing a cutback by Alexis and later heading over a free kick from Cazorla.
Soon a counter attack by Monaco and another poor decision by Mertesacker to commit when he shouldn't have ensured Monaco doubled their lead. Arsenal could have and should have pulled a goal back when Giroud missed an open goal after a parry by the Monaco keeper.
Ospina then had to deny Martial to prevent a 3 goal lead. Walcott on as a substitute drew a brilliant save off Subasic and then blocked Welbeck's rebound. Nothing seemed to be going right for the Arsenal team.
Finally a goal was scored by Oxlade-Chamberlain in injury time as he kept his composure on the edge of the area and curled a delightful shot into the top corner.
Moments later however as Arsenal pushed forward Ferreira-Carrasco broke through the middle and slotted beyond Ospina to put Arsenal with a near impossible task ahead of the second leg in the south of France.
PLAYER RATINGS
13: David Ospina (4.5): Could've in my opinion done better for the first goal and certainly the 3rd goal. Very poor performance.
39: Hector Bellerin (5): Struggled defensively against Martial and offensively did not do too much either.
4: Per Mertesacker (2): Absolutely shocking. Nothing else one can say for such a pathetic display.
6: Laurent Koscielny (3): As shocking as the rest of the defence. Almost cost the team another goal with a wayward back pass.
3: Kieran Gibbs (3): Probably was picked for his pace to defend against counter attacks. Was absolutely shocking.
34: Francis Coquelin (4): His worst game in an Arsenal shirt. Appalling.
19: Santi Cazorla (4): Lost the ball way too often, something very uncharacteristic of him.
17: Alexis Sanchez (4): Very poor performance. Has not scored for 6 games now.
23: Danny Welbeck (4): Nothing quiet worked out for him, but as much effort he puts without the goals as a forward it is useless.
11: Mesut Ozil (4): People blaming him. He was just one of all our torrid performers.
12: Olivier Giroud (1): The worst striker performance I have seen since that Bendtner game against Burnley. Worse than that as well.
SUBSTITUTES:
7: Tomas Rosicky (5): Upped the tempo after he came on and put a dew decent passes.
15: Oxlade-Chamberlain (5): Scored a great goal, but was responsible for the 3rd goal and lost the ball on numerous occasions.
14: Theo Walcott (5): Had one decent chance of which he produced a decent save.