Ozil Carries Arsenal to Victory
AS Roma 0 – 1 Arsenal
Stadio Olimpico (73,261)
GOAL SCORERS
MESUT OZIL (7)
Ozil celebrates as he scores the only goal for Arsenal
We’re here for match day 11 as AS Roma welcome Arsenal at the Stadio Olimpico. 32,892 fans are here to watch these two teams go at it. AS Roma won their last match against Liverpool while Arsenal managed by Patrik Olsson lost their last match to Manchester City.
Fert said in his pre-match conference that AS Roma was going to try and prevent Arsenal from scoring. He believed that his team can do that and then score from a counter attack. He also said that Strootman couldn’t make it for this match but is in contention to start in the next match.
As Roma line up:
Arsenal line up:
First Half:
AS Roma started the half but was quickly robbed off the ball. Ozil played the ball to Lacazette who then fired towards goal, but Alisson got a hand to it. Four minutes later, Wilshere received a ball from Cazorla and struck it superbly, but Alisson saved it. Arsenal scored seven minutes into the game as Lacazette played a pass to Ozil who then hit the ball into the bottom corner and scored. Six minutes later, Koscielny received a yellow card after tackling Perotti. Nothing really happened till the 39th minute when Cazorla received the ball from Wilshere and got an attempt in on goal but the ball went over. Five minutes till the end of the half, Manolas got a yellow card for committing a foul. Ozil used the free kick to cross the ball in front of the goal but Lacazette’s attempt hit the wood work and went over. The whistle was blown with Arsenal leading with a lone goal from Ozil.
Second Half:
Arsenal started the half by passing the ball around the back. No action was seen till the 57th minute when Xhaka played the ball to Ozil but Ozil’s shot went over the crossbar. Five minutes later, AS Roma finally got an attack in as Kolarov played a long ball to Dzeko but Cech saved Dzeko's shot the ball with both hands. Ozil almost got past Nainggolan but was fouled as Nainggolan was booked in the 64th minute. The two keepers then got busy with Alisson saving Cazorla’s shot and Cech getting El Shaarawy’s shot easily. Poor shot from the Italian. 12 minutes till the end of the game, Arsenal got a free kick and Vietto was booked. Ozil struck the ball underneath the wall but Alisson got to it. 11 minutes till the end of the game, Koscielny tried a long shot but Alisson kept it out. As the game ended, Bellerin got a yellow card for bringing down Gonalons. The referee blew his whistle as Arsenal won 1 – 0.
FULL TIME: AS Roma 0 – 1 Arsenal
MOTM: Mesut Ozil
Match Statistics
El Shaarawy disappointed as he misses
a chance to equalize
Post Match Conference:
Fert quickly spoke about the game before he left. Here’s what he had to say. “I think because we played so defensively today, we had fewer shots than Arsenal although we relatively had the same amount of shots on target. My goal was to stop Arsenal from scoring and keep it a close game, but it looks likes Arsenal was destined to score. Should I have played more attacking? Maybe but we move on and will try and win our next match”. AS Roma skipper De Rossi was also available to comment. He said “We got instructions to defend very well and we tried that but Arsenal managed to scored. We denied them from scoring more but I wish we had also scored. El Shaarawy missed a chance to equalize and I’m sure he is truly gutted. The lads will bounce back from this defeat and play better next time”.
