Arsenal breeze to encouraging victory against Standard Liege in Europa League as young guns fire

A fresh-faced Arsenal lifted spirits at the Emirates with a 4-0 victory over Standard Liege in group F of the Europa League. Gabriel Martinelli scored twice and set up the fourth goal for Dani Ceballos while Joe Willock got the third as Unai Emery’s side blitzed the Belgian team. Martinelli will deservedly get the plaudits but there were encouraging performances for Arsenal all over the pitch.

Only Lucas Torreira remained from the XI who ground out the grim 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Monday and this display could not have been more different. Even accounting for the paucity of the opposition, Arsenal went about their job with impressive vigour.

Martinelli was flanked up front by Reiss Nelson on the left and Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the right. Nelson menaced Liege right from the start, shooting over the bar in the early stages. The 19-year-old struck up an immediate understanding with the excellent Kieran Tierney and the first three goals came down their flank.

Martinelli showed his promise with two goals in the 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup and before the match Emery suggested that the 18-year-old was more suited to playing out wide than leading the line. The Brazilian looked as if he was trying to prove his manager wrong.

In the 13th minute Nelson collected a long clearance, held the ball up to allow for Tierney to overlap and then rolled a pass down the line for the full back. The Scot arrowed in an early cross and Martinelli glanced a superb header into the net.

Arsenal had barely stopped celebrating when three minutes later the 18-year-old got his second. Nelson dribbled into space and slid a ball into the area, not too far from where Martinelli got his first. This time the Brazilian received it on the ground and it seemed to be a much more awkward chance but the youngster pulled the ball back expertly to evade the defenders and shot into the far corner.

A rout was on the cards and Mergim Vojvoda and Zinho Vanheusden on the right of the Belgian side’s defence could not cope. Tierney again found room and pulled the ball back to Nelson on the edge of the area. The 19-year-old’s effort was blocked by Vanheusden but ricocheted to Willock inside the box. The midfielder had shown his eagerness to get forward from the start and he gratefully accepted the chance.

With 22 minutes gone the game was over but Arsenal did not relax. There were plenty of positives. Torreira anchored the midfield and the Uruguayan and Ceballos worked the central areas efficiently to allow Willock to express himself.

Maitland-Niles, so often left to look outmatched in a defensive role, combined nicely with Hector Bellerin, who is slowly coming back to his best. Arsenal continued to make chances and, with 12 minutes of the second half gone, Martinelli showed the range of his abilities. Finding space in the area, the striker reached the byline and chipped a delightful cross over the goalkeeper’s head. Ceballos could hardly fail to bundle the ball over the line.

Arsenal could have scored more and had very few alarms at the back over the 90 minutes. Emiliano Martinez missed a corner early on and Shkodran Mustafi had to stop Kostas Laifis’ header as it flew goalward. Vojvoda put the rebound over the bar.

Rob Holding does not appear happy playing out from the back. In the first half he got caught in two minds on the edge of the area and decided to put the ball into row Z but only succeeded in finding Bellerin near the byline. Late on Holding dithered and gave away possession in his own box.

Nicolas Pepe struggled to get into the game when he came on for Maitland-Niles and looked bad when compared to Martinelli. But it would have been hard to match the Brazilian on a night like this. It would not be surprising if Emery tested the teenager at a higher level.