Arsenal v Galatasaray: Champions League – as it happened

http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2014/oct/01/arsenal-galatasary-champions-league-live

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9.42pm BST21:42

An impressive night’s work from Arsenal, then, Wojciech Szczesny’s red card the only blot in the copybook. They’re on the board in their group thanks to a hat-trick from Danny Welbeck, who finished his chances with aplomb. The opposition weren’t up to much, though, and it was concerning to see Alexis Sanchez, who also scored, sitting with an ice pack on his ankle ahead of the trip to Chelsea on Sunday. Still, a good win and a fine way for Arsene Wenger to celebrate his 18th Arsenal birthday. Thanks for reading and emailing. Good night.

9.37pm BST21:37

Full-time: Arsenal 4-1 Galatasaray

But it doesn’t matter! The points are Arsenal’s!

9.37pm BST21:37

90 min+4: Arsenal are denied a fifth by Semih Kaya! Welbeck and Wilshere worked an opening for Cazorla, whose heavy touch when he was through on goal meant he had to rush his chipped finish and although he beat Muslera, Semih managed to get back to clear.

9.35pm BST21:35

90 min+3: We are playing out time.

9.33pm BST21:33

90 min: We continue. There will be four minutes of added time.

9.31pm BST21:31

88 min: Ospina and Yilmaz are both down after a collision. Yilmaz had turned adroitly in the area, only to be stopped by Koscielny, but then bumped into Ospina. The physios are on.

9.29pm BST21:29

87 min: Sneijder gets the ball out of his feet 25 yards out and pings a low drive across the turf but Ospina is his equal, the Colombian reacting smartly to push it aside.

9.28pm BST21:28

84 min: Galatasaray appear to have realised that they have an extra man and are now playing accordingly, with the atmosphere among the home fans suddenly a little tense. This time Sneijder threatens with a snapshot from 18 yards. It takes a deflection and zips inches wide.

9.27pm BST21:27

83 min: Ospina makes another save to deny Galatasaray a second goal. The ball broke to Altintop on the right side of the Arsenal area after a spot of pinball and although he struck his shot firmly, Ospina saved with his feet, with Sneijder unable to latch on to the rebound.

9.25pm BST21:25

82 min: An electric surge from Welbeck relieves some of the pressure that has been building but he hasn’t quite got enough in the tank to beat Chedjou at the end of a brilliant run. What a performance from Welbeck, though. He’s been great.

9.24pm BST21:24

80 min: This is better from the Turks, Bulut sent into acres of space down the right and hanging a cross into the middle, where Yilmaz directs a header towards the top corner, only for Ospina to claw away! One for the cameras, really, but a good save from the Colombian goalkeeper.

9.23pm BST21:23

79 min: Galatasaray’s players appear to be in a competition to see who can register the wildest long-distance shot. Telles is the latest to have a go. Not bad. High and wide. That’ll take some beating.

9.20pm BST21:20

78 min: Galatasaray haven’t done much since the red card. Melo shoots over from 30 yards. I think we’ve declared at 4-1. Maybe Arsenal could go down to 9 men and see if that makes a difference.

9.19pm BST21:19

77 min: Mesut Ozil, who has had a good night, is replaced by Jack Wilshere.

9.17pm BST21:17

74 min: Arsenal aren’t in too much trouble, though, and as such they are confident to lope forward and look for a fifth goal. Ozil and Cazorla combine beautifully on the right and Cazorla chips a cross into the middle where Welbeck, unmarked but stretching, heads wide. He should have left it to Rosicky, who was better placed, but he didn’t get a shout. Up the other end, Sneijder has a dig from 20 yards but his daisy-counter flashes wide.

9.14pm BST21:14

72 min: Alexis Sanchez has an ice pack on his ankle, possibly as a result of that abject foul from Melo in the first half.

9.14pm BST21:14

71 min: Altintop’s effort from long range takes a deflection and loops up kindly for Ospina. Understandably Arsenal are sitting back now. They don’t want to leave any space for Galatasaray to exploit.

9.12pm BST21:12

69 min: Galatasaray replace Goran Pandev with Bruma and Veysel Sari with Umut Bulut. They’re all out of substitutions. And here they are on the attack, Dzemaili driving inside from the left and arrowing a low shot towards the near post. Ospina saves.

9.10pm BST21:10

68 min: Some admin. Arsenal make their second change, Tomas Rosicky replacing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

9.06pm BST21:06

64 min: Have Arsenal ever given away a 4-0 lead before?

9.05pm BST21:05

GOAL! Arsenal 4-1 Galatasaray (Yilmaz pen, 63 min)

Burak Yilmaz comfortably sends Opsina the wrong way, stroking it into the bottom-left corner. Now then.

9.04pm BST21:04

62 min: David Ospina, Arsenal’s substitute goalkeeper, is on to replace Alexis Sanchez. The first thing he’ll have to do is save Burak Yilmaz’s penalty.

9.03pm BST21:03

PENALTY TO GALATASARAY! AND WOJCIECH SZCZESNY IS SENT OFF!

60 min: Goran Pandev slips a pass through to Yilmaz, Szcznesy rushed out but not sharply enough and he brought the striker down. That’s poor. It’s 4-0 to Arsenal. He didn’t need to do that.

Updated at 9.27pm BST

9.01pm BST21:01

58 min: Gibbs prods a pass through the Galatasaray defence. It was intended for Sanchez, who was offside, but Muslera hesitated, the flag stayed down and the ball ran to Welbeck, but his touch was heavy and took it behind for a goal-kick.

8.59pm BST20:59

57 min: Galatasaray are enjoying some much-needed possession in Arsenal’s half but it’s a bit late, isn’t it, lads?

8.56pm BST20:56

54 min: “Danny Welbeck,” sing the Arsenal fans, “he scores when he wants.” Not strictly true. He missed one in the first half. If they’re saying he didn’t mean to score then, that’s got to be a concern for Wenger.

Updated at 8.57pm BST

8.56pm BST20:56

GOAL! Arsenal 4-0 Galatasaray (Welbeck, 52 min)

Danny Welbeck scores the first hat-trick of his career and he’s done it in style! Sanchez found Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right and he rolled a pass through to Welbeck, who lifted a glorious little dink over the advancing Muslera, before pausing to admire his work and then accepting the praise of a smitten crowd. See, he can do a chip when he puts his mind to it. Arsenal are loving this.

Updated at 9.41pm BST

8.54pm BST20:54

50 min: Is any player as impressive a clapper as Mathieu Flamini? Maybe not. But to matters elsewhere. Sanchez pings a peach of a pass down the left to set Oxlade-Chamberlain away. He jauntily eludes the hapless Melo, who did try his very best to commit the foul, and then attempted to poke a pass across to Ozil for a tap-in, only for Telles to get in the way. He slides in to block the pass and inadvertently knocks it straight to Muslera, who can’t believe his luck.

8.51pm BST20:51

49 min: Melo is limping now. He appears to have done himself a mischief, which is definitely not funny.

8.50pm BST20:50

48 min: Melo pressurises Chambers into sloppily conceding a corner. Chambers was probably worried Melo was going to chop him in half, to be fair to the lad, and anyway the corner comes to nothing.

8.49pm BST20:49

46 min: Galatasaray have made a half-time change, Hamit Altintop on for Yekta. That’ll solve everything. They also appear to have changed to a back four - and not a moment too soon! “So, the evidence continues to mount that Ozil in the Middle is best for Team Arsenal,” says William Marzouk. “When he’s on the left Arsenal is ponderous in attack and vulnerable on the wing defensively.”

8.33pm BST20:33

Half-time: Arsenal 3-0 Galatasaray

Without wishing to tempt fate, the only question now is how many Arsenal are going to score. Danny Welbeck has two, Alexis Sanchez has one, Galatasaray have nothing.

8.30pm BST20:30

45 min+1: We are in the first of two added minutes.

8.30pm BST20:30

45 min: “Hey Jacob, thanks for the MBM,” says Matthew Graham. “On the left hand side of the screen are the other games, represented by a bunch of dots in red, green, and grey. Can you please explain what the hell these dots are meant to represent?”

It’s an elaborate

game of Connect 4

way of telling you past results.

8.29pm BST20:29

44 min: Flamini is booked for a hefty challenge on Sneijder.

8.29pm BST20:29

43 min: The only thing Galatasaray can do to stop Sanchez is to kick him. Now Dzemaili is booked for taking a chunk out of the Chilean, who’s not happy.

8.27pm BST20:27

42 min: Galatasaray have given up. Cazorla flings in a corner from the right and Welbeck flashes a header across goal from the near post. No one was running in to take advantage.

8.27pm BST20:27

GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Useless Shower (Sanchez, 41 min)

This is so simple. Galatasray are a comedy rabble. Mesut Ozil has all the time in the world to turn in the middle and then release Sanchez down the inside-left channel. He skips into the area with merriment in his soul, ducks past a feeble challenge and then places an accurate shot into the far corner with his right foot. This could be anything. Happy 18th Arsenal birthday, Arsene! Happy?

Updated at 8.53pm BST

8.23pm BST20:23

38 min: Arsenal fans are asking who the Galatasaray fans are in chant form, by way of retribution.

8.23pm BST20:23

37 min: Play has to be stopped because the loveable Galatasaray fans, having realised that they support a load of rubbish, are chucking flares on to the pitch in order to amuse themselves. Top banter from the lads.

Updated at 8.23pm BST

8.22pm BST20:22

34 min: Galatasaray go straight up the other end and scythe through the Arsenal defence, leading to a chance for Pandev after excellent work from Telles. But Pandev’s shot is tame and Szczesny saves comfortably, allowing Arsenal to counter. The ball reaches Sanchez on the left - but then Felipe Melo, a notorious bone-head, comes flying through the air, both feet on the ground and his studs up, to clean Sanchez out. That’s a disgusting challenge from a ludicrous player but he only receives a booking.

8.19pm BST20:19

33 min: Welbeck almost completes his hat-trick! The ball broke to him 18 yards from goal but he rammed his left-footer straight at a relieved Muslera. The crowd are appreciative, though, and they’re singing Welbeck’s name.

8.18pm BST20:18

GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Galatasaray (Welbeck, 30 min)

The floodgates have opened and Danny Welbeck is on fire! And they say he’s not clinical enough. Tsk. It’s more horrible defending from the visitors, though. Sanchez and Chedjou went up to challenge for a header on the left and the ball was flicked on behind Melo, who was in an awful position. Welbeck easily outmuscled and outpaced him, sprinting off into the distance, opening up his body and stroking the ball into the far corner with his right foot. That’s a fine finish. Arsenal are in cruise control and Galatasaray are all over the place.

Updated at 8.25pm BST

8.15pm BST20:15

29 min: Ozil feeds a pass into Welbeck on the edge of the area. Quick feet take him past Melo, but Sneijder spots the danger and scurries back to nab the ball off Welbeck. Moments later, Sanchez receives the ball in the area and turns sharply to shoot, but sees his effort fizz wide.

8.13pm BST20:13

27 min: Prandelli might be thinking about a change already. His formation, with three at the back, isn’t really working. Galatasaray are badly struggling to keep the ball and build attacks and they look vulnerable when Sanchez and Oxlade-Chamberlain get going on the wings.

8.10pm BST20:10

25 min: The cameraman catches one of the linesmen asking Lukas Podolski to move back on the touchline. Presumably Podolski was trying to take a selfie with him.

8.09pm BST20:09

GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Galatasaray (Welbeck, 22 min)

Danny Welbeck scores and he scores well but this is all down to Alexis Sanchez. Just as Arsenal seemed to be drifting aimlessly, he charges inside from the left and then slips a lovely pass behind Melo for Welbeck, who takes his time, thinks about the chip, thinks better of the chip and then stabs a fine finish underneath the advancing Muslera. Relief spreads around the stadium.

Updated at 8.22pm BST

8.06pm BST20:06

21 min: Speaking of Sanchez on the left, he darts past two defenders and aims a low ball towards Welbeck at the near post. But Melo covers well.

8.05pm BST20:05

19 min: I say “making of him”. Obviously Wesley Sneijder is already made. But he has gone off the boil in the past few years, so maybe this positional change could give him a new lease of life. Meanwhile not much is occurring on the pitch. “Sanchez and ozil are both in the lineup today,” says Samuel Klinsman. “Does that mean ozil has been moved out of his favorite position in the center?” No, he’s in the middle. Sanchez is on the left.

8.03pm BST20:03

18 min: Watching Sneijder is enjoyable. He’s not necessarily affecting the game loads but he’s so comfortable on the ball. Maybe this deep role will be the making of him.

Updated at 8.03pm BST

8.01pm BST20:01

16 min: Wesley “The Enforcer” Sneijder tracks Ozil’s run down the right flank all the way and then shrugs him off the ball when the German tries to turn.

8.01pm BST20:01

15 min: Apologies if the updates are slow. It’s not my fault. For once.

7.58pm BST19:58

13 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain swings a cross to the far post from the right. Gibbs arrives with a late run and sees his cushioned volley deflected wide. Another corner, then. Another waste of everyone’s time.

7.57pm BST19:57

12 min: Pandev wastes a fine opportunity to go through on goal by failing to time his run properly and straying just offside but the space afforded to Galatasaray by Arsenal was a worry there. They played their way through the midfield far too easily.

7.56pm BST19:56

10 min: Galatasaray go close. Telles receives the ball on the left touchline and has Chambers up his back, but he does well to control with his chest and then flick the ball over his head to Dzemaili, before running on to the return pass. From the edge of the area, a sight of goal presents itself, but Telles strokes a few yards wide of the far post. A decent opportunity.

7.54pm BST19:54

9 min: Wesley Sneijder is Cesare Prandelli’s Andrea Pirlo. He’s not playing off the front for Galatasaray but in front of his own defence.

7.53pm BST19:53

8 min: Welbeck skips past Felipe Melo on the edge of the area and takes a tumble. Looks like a foul. Feels like a foul. Isn’t given as a foul.

7.53pm BST19:53

7 min: It’s Arsenal who are making all the early running, passing quickly and moving well. Galatasaray are in danger of being overwhelmed.

7.52pm BST19:52

6 min: An Arsenal corner, then. They weren’t very good at these on the weekend but they’ve been working on them since, so they’re bound to have something up their sleeve. This is exciting! Here it comes, and ... headed behind for another corner. Here it comes, and ... headed away. Oh.

7.50pm BST19:50

5 min: “I don’t want to say it,” says Tony Gale, before saying it. “But I don’t think this is going to be 0-0.” Then he chuckles. And watches as Welbeck storms down the left flank at terrifying speed, easily beating Sneijder and bursting into the area, before winning a corner.

Updated at 7.50pm BST

7.49pm BST19:49

3 min: A bright, positive start from Arsenal. Ozil and Welbeck exchange passes in the area, the latter setting up the former for a shot, which is blocked. The ball breaks to Chambers on the right. His cross is half-cleared as far as Cazorla but he can’t get a shot away. “Not saying the pitch is the cause, but if it were, given that other teams’ players play usually no more than a game at Arsenal in a season, it’s not strange that they don’t get injured as often as Arsenal’s own players do, since they both train regularly and play all their home games on the Emirates pitch,” says Rohit Kapur.

7.47pm BST19:47

2 min: “Good point: a study of whether that is the case would be a way of testing that hypothesis,” says Ric Arthur. “Should we suggest it to Wenger?” Yeah. I’ll give him a call later.

7.47pm BST19:47

And we’re off! Galatasaray, in lovely purple kits, get us underway, kicking from right to left in the first half. They look like Fiorentina. It won’t come as news to you that their fans are making quite the din. Even more so when Dzemaili escapes behind Chambers on the left. But Mertesacker clears and Oxlade-Chamberlain counters, only to run into traffic in the middle.

7.42pm BST19:42

Here come the teams, both of them decked out in tracksuit tops, Arsenal in blue, Galatasaray in purple. They should be made to play in them. By the way, it seems our site is updating really slowly, so you might have to wait to see these award-winning entries. Actually I can probably say whatever I want tonight and it wouldn’t matter. The third Godfather film is the best, a cinematic tour de force.

Updated at 8.00pm BST

7.37pm BST19:37

Ever wondered who played in Wenger’s first Arsenal game? Of course you have, you’re only human.

Seaman; Dixon, Keown, Bould, Adams, Winterburn; Platt, Vieira, Merson; Wright, Hartson. Subs: Parlour (Hartson 85), Shaw, Linighan, Rose, Lukic.

Look at that, three centre-backs, Wenger ahead of his time already. They beat Blackburn 2-0, by the way.

7.35pm BST19:35

“Most of the years of trophy drought have been at the Emirates stadium,” says Ric Arthur. “Some of those years, Arsenal were on track to win the league until hit hard by injuries, and in most of them, if my memory serves, they had more injuries than any other team most of the time, week in, week out. Arsene himself is non-plussed: he has changed the training, changed the training coach, rotated more, and still players go down injured with no one near them (Ramsey, Debuchy, Giroud, most recently). To me that suggests the pitch itself might be the culprit. But how would you prove that?”

If that was the case, wouldn’t players from other teams suffer similar injuries when they play at the Emirates?

7.12pm BST19:12

Arsenal and Galatasaray have met before, of course, in one of the two European finals Wenger has reached in his 18 years in north London. It was pwopa nawtee on the streets of Copenhagen, it finished 0-0 and the Turks won the Uefa Cup on penalties after misses from Davor Suker and Patrick Vieira.

7.03pm BST19:03

Ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for the teams

Arsenal: Szczensy; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Flamini; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Cazorla, Sanchez; Welbeck. Subs: Ospina, Bellerin, Rosicky, Wilshere, Coquelin, Podolski, Campbell.

Galatasaray: Muslera; Chedjou, Felipe Melo, Semih Kaya; Veysel, Yekta, Dzemaili, Telles; Sneijder; Pandev, Burak Yilmaz. Subs: Bolat, Altintop, Balta, Camdal, Bruma, Bulut, Adin.

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy).

Updated at 7.35pm BST

6.45pm BST18:45

Preamble

Evening. It’s another big night for Arsene Wenger. It’s his 18th Arsenal birthday! Hip hip, hooray! Hooray for Arsene! He’s all grown up now. Eighteen years. Cor. He’s packed a lot into them, won three leagues, gone a season unbeaten, failed to see many incidents, revolutionised a football club from top to bottom, built a stadium with his own bare hands, introduced the concept of healthy eating and clean living to professional athletes, created Thierry Henry the striker, been enigmatic, found and cherished the world’s largest overcoat. Oh, and he also forgot to win anything for nine of those years, but it’s best if we don’t sully the moment by dwelling on that for too long. Happy 18th Arsenal birthday, Arsene. I think this means you don’t have to use the fake ID when you buy booze now.

Anyway here’s hoping he has a better experience than on his last milestone. You might remember it. March of this year. His 1,000th game. A trip to Stamford Bridge. Their old chums, Chelsea, chomping at the bit. Their old chum, Jose Mourinho, in a perfect mood to ruin the party. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Andre Marriner, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, embarrassment, humiliation, farce, comedy, lots of laughter. The horror! The horror!

It’s Chelsea away this Sunday, by the way. Arsenal have a few injuries.

But Arsenal need to deal with Galatasaray first, both to get their Champions League campaign a kick up the backside after the 2-0 gubbing they received off Borussia Dortmund in their first match and to boost their confidence. It’s not been an especially impressive start to the season from Arsenal, who have only won three of their 10 matches, and already we’re going over the same old topics - a lack of defensive cover, the failure to sign a commanding midfielder, the form of Mesut Ozil and why on earth are they picking up so many injuries? Wenger is at a loss to explain the last one, with Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta joining Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Mathieu Debuchy, Nacho Monreal, Yaya Sanogo and Serge Gnabry on the sidelines after their injuries against Tottenham. Arsenal aren’t quite down to the bare bones but Cesare Prandelli’s Galatasaray, who drew their opener with Anderlecht, will feel this is an opportunity.

Kick-off: 7.45pm.