Arsenal start slow before becoming runaway winners | OneFootball

Arsenal looked at risk of an upset in the opening half when Molde were more than holding their own, but there was little the hosts could do to stop them in the second-half.

The Gunners were wasteful in possession for the opening 45, like we have said on one-too-many occasions this season, and were extremely lucky not to be behind early on.

Molde should have opened the scoring in the opening 15 minutes, when midfielder Sinyan was found in the box with an open goal to poke at, but he failed to connect properly.

After the break, the team really came to life. Nicolas Pepe was running the show and looking to catch the goalkeeper off guard, and he so nearly broke the deadlock, only to be denied by the crossbar.

Shortly after he did score however, with a neatly taken left-footed shot into the far corner.

The floodgates looked likely to open from this point, with Eddie Nketiah having a goal ruled out, shortly before Reiss Nelson did add the second.

The manager moved to ring the changes after this, with Folarin Balogun, Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney and Dani Ceballos all entering the field, and it was the two youngster who combined for the next.

Smith Rowe finds Balogun in the box, who swivels on the spot and fires home, to score his first ever senior goal in only his second senior appearance.

Molde tried to carve out a chance to score a consolation goal late on, but it was too little too late, and Arsenal have plenty of positives to take from the performance.

Will Arteta look to stick with the 4-4-2 formation for the Premier League match at the weekend?

Patrick