Arsenal maintained their 100% start to the Europa League this season with a hard-earned 1-0 victory away to Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night.
The only goal of the game came from Danny Welbeck who capitalised on a slip by Sebastian Coates to score his second goal in three Europa League games this season.
Unai Emery made five changes to the team that started against Leicester City on Monday night, leaving out Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil, Lucas Torreira, Alexandre Lacazette and Alex Iwobi, with the last three coming on later on in the game.
It was a close game at both ends and Sporting looked like they would score on every attack in the opening stages of the game.
The Portuguese side continued to pile pressure but their composure in the final third always let them down.
Although Arsenal were not at their best on the night they also threatened on rareboccasions and the best chance of the gem a fell to Henrikh Mhikitaryan from a set piece just before half time and Aubameyang also denied twice by Rui Riberio in gila for Sporting.
The introduction of Lucas Torreira changed the dynamics of the game, giving Arsenal more steel in the midfield and once again proving the impact the former Sampdoria man has been for the club since joining in the summer.
Arsenal had to wait till the 77 minutes to finally crack one the Sporting defence when Coates slipped, missing the ball and putting Welbeck through on goal. The former Manchester United striker did well to slide a powerful right footed shot between the legs of Riberio.
The win was Arsenal's 11 the straight win in all competitions this season after the losses to Manchester City and Chelsea in their opening two games. Their best run since 2007.
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