Arsenal’s place in the last 16 of the Champions League is secure for a 17th consecutive season but, perhaps even more important to Arsene Wenger, is that they have also taken a giant step towards qualifying as the winners of Group A.
From the position here of 2-0 down after only 15 minutes, Wenger will also be delighted at how his team first clawed their way back into the game and then secured what had once seemed a highly unlikely victory with a sublime Mesut Ozil goal. The winner arrived in only the 87th minute and was Ozil’s seventh goal already this season. His most previously in a season with either Arsenal or Real Madrid is 10. Paris St Germain’s late win in Basle means that they are also now certain to advance with Arsenal to the knockout phase but Wenger’s team will have home advantage for what is likely to be the group decider at the Emirates later this month,
The added strength this season in Arsenal’s squad was evident in how Wenger was able to leave Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla in London amid minor injuries and still name a match-day group here containing 15 full internationals.
Most eye-catching was the return to the starting team of both Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey, with Alexis Sanchez moving back to the left of an attacking three in the usual 4-2-3-1 formation.
Arsenal began positively and quickly breached the Ludogorets defence following a swift interchange of passing between Kieran Gibbs and Francis Coquelin, but Mesut Ozil was perhaps just a little too casual with an attempted finish that was blocked by goalkeeper Milan Borjan’s legs.
Although it was a home tie, Ludogorets had actually endured longer travelling time on Wednesday than Arsenal amid a six-hour coach journey from Razgrad to Sofia in order to stage the match in Bulgaria’s national stadium. They also again soon showed an attacking fluency and intent that went unrewarded at the Emirates amid a slightly misleading 6-0 scoreline two weeks ago.
Xhaka had been guilty of a handball inside Arsenal’s own half and the curling free-kick was brilliantly placed between goalkeeper David Ospina and his back four. Ospina should really have advanced to smother the danger but remained on his line to allow Jonathan Cafu to open the scoring.
It was then soon 2-0. Arsenal had again been on the front-foot, only to carelessly present their hosts with a chance. Carl Jenkinson lost possession deep inside Ludogorets half but the counter-attack was rapid, with Cafu released down the right and skilfully evading Gibbs’s attempted tackle before crossing for Claudiu Keseru to score. Keseru had darted in front of Laurent Koscielny - his old Tours team-mate – for his 14th goal of what has already been a very prolific season.
Having conceding only one goal in their previous five Champions League group games, Arsenal had been beaten twice in the space of just 180 seconds. Another former colleague of both Koscielny and Keseru at Tours was Giroud and it was only another five minutes before he inspired the game’s third goal.
Giroud’s ability to link up Arsenal’s passing is easily underestimated and he then provided the assist for Xhaka to finish emphatically following a late run into the area. It was the 20th minute of the game and the 2,000 travelling Arsenal fans responded by unveiling a ‘Wenger: 20’ in recognition of his two decades at the club.
There was still no let up in the end-to-end nature of the game and, by the stroke of half-time, Arsenal had managed to undo their largely self-inflicted earlier damage. Ramsey had shown his usual energy in running into a wide position and his subsequent cross was met by Giroud, whose header was directed past Borjan.
Arsenal were immediately back in full control of possession when the match resumed but, with Ludogorets now defending deeper and committing fewer bodies forward, the game soon became congested in the final third of the pitch. Ozil was released and looked to be clear on goal but opted for a final pass in an attempt to find Giroud, Sanchez or Ramsey when he was better positioned to shoot himself. Sanchez also had a clear sight of goal with a free-kick but his shot was deflected over before Ludogorets – and specifically Cafu – gave another reminder of their counter-attacking threat. Ospina, though, briefly came to Arsenal's rescue and, having saved well from Cafu, he also then did well to deny Wanderson after the attacking width of Arsenal’s full-backs was again exposed.
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