Arsenal plot Manchester City EFL Cup Final upset after Ostersund win

This was a bad result for both Ostersund and Manchester City. The Europa League is now so pivotal to Arsenal’s season that anything other than a one-sided scoreline here would have left Arsene Wenger with a selection conundrum next week.

Yet a comfortable 3-0 first-leg win puts the Gunners in total command of this last-32 tie, affording Wenger the opportunity to heavily rotate his squad for Thursday’s return game ahead of next weekend’s Carabao Cup Final against City.

Arsenal may not have extensively prepared for the sub-zero temperatures and the artificial pitch at the Jamtkraft Arena but it was Ostersund who were caught cold, conceding twice in 24 minutes as the Gunners dominated the opening stages.

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Ostersund’s domestic campaign is yet to begin and they resembled a team in pre-season, a lack of match toughness compounded by a gulf in class. A degree of sloppiness permeated Arsenal’s play as a result of how comfortable they were, but the half-time break brought a renewed focus, leading to Mesut Ozil scoring a third after 58 minutes.

Hector Bellerin did his best to keep the tie alive by conceding a needless stoppage-time penalty which Ostersund centre-back Tom Pettersson then had saved by David Ospina, meaning the end result was a morale-boosting victory achieved with minimal fuss.

“The risk at the start was that I didn’t know how tough the pitch would be for our players,” said Wenger. “We have no game on the weekend so that was an easier decision [to choose a strong side]. The only risk was injury. The pitch was quite good.

“I will try to win the game again [next week] — maybe rotate and play the players who didn’t play last night.”

That could mean Rob Holding, Sead Kolasinac and Reiss Nelson could all start but it remains to be seen how Wenger handles Danny Welbeck after an underwhelming performance in his preferred centre-forward position.

This was a night of positives for Arsenal but Welbeck had an excellent opportunity to stake his claim for regular involvement with Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang ineligible and Alexandre Lacazette injured. On this evidence his place for the second leg may be under threat from Eddie Nketiah. Several promising attacks broke down once the ball found its way to Welbeck, either through selecting the wrong option or shooting without conviction.

It is difficult to see his place in the pecking order changing anytime soon — even in a wide position — with Henrikh Mkhitaryan adding another two assists to his growing collection and Alex Iwobi currently highly-favoured by Wenger.

Welbeck’s form was only a footnote, however, thanks to his team-mates and as a group, they needed an evening without any further drama.

It had the makings of a potentially tricky test given the conditions but Arsenal kept only their second clean sheet in any competition since December 19 and they can begin thinking about how to find a way past City at Wembley, just as they did in last season’s FA Cup semi-final, safe in the knowledge only a miracle will stop them appearing in next Friday’s Europa League last-16 draw.

Although it is a competition the club would rather not play in — a feeling no doubt enhanced by spending time in this remote, albeit beautiful, outpost in northern Sweden — the Europa League has helped engender positivity simply by virtue of winning games.

It may pale into insignificance when compared to the calibre of teams who inflicted past failures but Arsenal are now on the verge of winning a knockout tie in Europe (excluding qualification play-offs) for the first time since 2010, when they beat Porto 6-2 on aggregate with a side which included Manuel Almunia, Abou Diaby, Nicklas Bendtner and Sol Campbell.

Tougher challenges obviously lie ahead but Wenger is fighting to keep some momentum to Arsenal’s season and this result helps in that regard.

Beating City would do the same, not just in securing a trophy Wenger has never won, but to do so against a team currently sweeping all before them at home and abroad. It is a daunting task but at least one Wenger now has plenty of time to prepare for.