Dundalk 2 – 4 Arsenal

Arsenal ended their Europa League group stage campaign with a 100% winning record, beating Dundalk 4-2 at Aviva Stadium.

Mikel Arteta traded in his entire XI for the trip to Dublin, naming a number of youngsters to his squad, and they took an early lead when Eddie Nketiah (12) came home. Mohamed Elneny (18) scored a sensational, curly effort soon after to double Arsenal’s lead in style.

But Dundalk, who had won the FAI Cup in the same stadium on Sunday, was not going to end his Europa League campaign without some noise when Jordan Flores (22) scored a goal with his own fierce effort.

The second half took longer to start, but young players Joe Willock (67) and Folarin Balogun (80) added two more, before Sean Hoare’s (85) late header added another moment to savor in the final game of the league. Dundalk season.

Arsenal were already guaranteed top spot in Group B and have won six consecutive major European games for the first time since November 2005 and are now nine undefeated on the road in Europe for the first time.

How Arsenal’s youngsters continued their perfect streak

The game started with a relative goalfest with three in the first 22 minutes. Arsenal opened things up after a good hustle from Nketiah. Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ pass to him appeared to be under Andrew Boyle’s control, but his punt bounced off Nketiah, who used his rhythm to drive onto the ball and into the box before finishing off Gary Rogers.

Then Elneny surprised everyone with a sensational blow to double Arsenal’s lead. Emilie Smith-Rowe provided a break after a patient play, allowing Elneny to launch her effort into the top corner. It was his first goal for Arsenal since 2017, when he also scored on Matchday 6 of the Europa League group stage against BATE Borisov.

But Dundalk soon fought back when Flores scored in a second straight European game. He played a quick give-and-take with Michael Duffy before sending a powerful diagonal effort into the far corner from the right of the area.

Arsenal tested goalkeeper Rogers twice as the half progressed. Cedric Sores sent a strong momentum from the top right of the area, but Dundalk’s plug did enough to send him around the post before Maitland-Niles sent his own curling effort into the arc from range, but Rogers crossed. to save.

Dundalk may have leveled at the edge of the break, but Darragh Leahy sent a shot over the bar from close range after a vital block from Calum Chambers.

Arsenal scored their third in the 67th minute when Willock scored his third goal of the season in the Europa League. Impressive substitute Balogun held the ball well into the box before putting the ball in the way of Willock, whose low shot went under Rogers and into the net.

Balogun scored his first Arsenal goal against Molde two weeks ago and the 19-year-old added the Gunners fourth, picking up Nicolas Pepe’s pass before finishing past Rogers.

However, Dundalk deserved a bit more for his performance and scored his second of the night with five minutes of normal time to play. Flores got involved again, launching a wonderful free kick from the right, and Hoare was there to send the ball into the goal with his head, all with his back to the target.

Man of the match – Folarin Balogun

It was another impressive understudy appearance from the teenager, who originally garnered attention with his cameo against Molde two weeks ago.

He used his strength to hold the ball brilliantly before setting Willock up for his goal before landing his own shot magnificently. Balogun looked like a player who had been playing in the Europa League for years, not mere weeks.

There was a bit of talk in the summer of moving elsewhere, but Arsenal must be desperate to hang on to him now, after his performances over the past few weeks – the boy has an incredibly bright future.

Opta – Nketiah statistics between goals

• Mohamed Elneny’s three goals for Arsenal have been scored in European competition (1 in CL, 2 in EL), with two of those goals coming from the area.
• Eddie Nketiah scored his fifth goal of the season for Arsenal against Dundalk; he is now Arsenal’s top scorer in all competitions this season.
• Arsenal have scored twice as many goals in the Europa League this season (20 in 6 games) than in the Premier League (10 in 11).

Whats Next?

Sunday, December 13 7:00 p.m.

Start 7:15 pm

Arsenal had already qualified for the round of 32 and will meet their opponents on Monday, December 14 when the draw takes place. They host Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday, live on Sky Sports; start 19:15 h. Dundalk’s loss to Arsenal was his last game of the season.