Arsenal 6-0 BATE Borisov: Jack Wilshere stars in Gunners rout By Nick Wright at the Emirates Stadium
Last Updated: 07/12/17 10:38pm
Jack Wilshere scored his first club goal in two-and-a-half years as Arsenal rounded off the Europa League group stage with an emphatic 6-0 thrashing of BATE Borisov. Wilshere, who is pushing for more regular playing time in the Premier League and hoping to catch Gareth Southgate's eye ahead of next summer's World Cup, delighted the Emirates Stadium crowd with a man-of-the-match performance in the No 10 role. His emphatic driven finish shortly before half-time came after Mathieu Debuchy and Theo Walcott had given Arsenal a commanding lead, and the Gunners, who had already clinched their place in the last-32 as Group H winners, continued in the same vein after the break. BATE defender Denis Polyakov turned a Walcott cross into his own net for the fourth, with Olivier Giroud scoring from the penalty spot before Mohamed Elneny rounded off the scoring with a fine curler.
Arsenal, who fielded a totally changed team from Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, were totally dominant from the start, with Debuchy opening the scoring with a sweetly-struck drive which was still rising as it flew into the net in the 11th minute.
Walcott was denied from close-range by BATE goalkeeper Denis Scherbitsky as Arsenal continued to pour forward, but he didn't have to wait long for his goal, slotting home a calm finish after Danny Welbeck overran the ball in the BATE box.
Walcott had another effort cleared off the line from Wilshere's cut-back shortly afterwards, and the pair combined again for Arsenal's third goal two minutes before the break. This time, their roles were reversed, with Wilshere drilling an emphatic shot past Scherbitsky from Walcott's pass.
It was no less than Wilshere's performance deserved, and he was back at the heart of things in the second half, sliding a fine through ball to Walcott, whose low cross was powered past his own goalkeeper by BATE's Polyakov
The over-worked Scherbitsky made a fine save from Welbeck shortly after that, but Arsenal got their fifth when Walcott was hauled down for a penalty. Giroud was made to re-take his initial effort from the spot but made no mistake the second time.
Arsene Wenger threw on young trio Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock in the closing stages, but it was Elneny who capped an entertaining night for the home crowd, sending a stunning effort into the net from Wilshere's pass.
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