Europa League: Group B

ARSENAL 4 (Lacazette 10, Mari 17, Nketiah 44, Smith Rowe 66)
RAPID VIENNA 1 (Kitagawa 47)

THE fans were back, and welcomed by getting to watch Arsenal waltz to victory over Rapid Vienna on “a special night” at the Emirates Stadium.

It had been 271 days since Gooners had last been at their home, but now 2,000 were allowed back in to see the Gunners continue their dominance in Group B.

But it remains to be seen whether Mikel Arteta can get Arsenal’s faltering Premier League challenge back on track too.

Spurs and the small matter of the north London derby comes next, and Arteta raised concerns about his sides recent profligacy in front of goal.

“The aggressiveness is always there but the margins in the Premier League are so much smaller, when you make a mistake you pay the price,” explained the Gunners boss.

“We haven’t been as ruthless in the final third in the league as we have in Europe, but I liked the reaction of the team and the performance tonight.”

Goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Pablo Mari, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe wrapped up the 4-1 win over Vienna, but in truth the margin of this victory should have been far greater.

Arsenal raced into a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes. First came a swirling long-ranger from Lacazette. The Frenchman celebrated by heading for the socially distanced seats to share the moment with the supporters who had long been starved of moments like this.

Pablo Mari headed in his first goal for the club on 18. It was another moment to savour, as the Spaniard was mobbed by his teammates – mindful of his lengthy injury lay off and what this goal meant to him.

Fans were warmed by it all on a chilly, damp evening. They hadn’t forgotten how to sing and chant – even if technically health advice says that they shouldn’t.

But for the first-half at least, Gunners fans did sing and chant, and it made for a good atmosphere.

The Arsenal players responded with 75 per cent possession against an Austrian side that was so bad, they looked as if they had been ordered just to defend but not touch the ball.

Nketiah scored Arsenal’s third on the stroke of half-time when he headed in after his original shot had been saved by Richard Strebinger in the visitors’ goal.

Vienna made a rapid start to the second-half and grabbed a goal back within minutes.

Kohya Kitagawa scored with a snapshot after the ball came back from the pinball of a Runar Runarsson save and two defensive blocks.

And, like the lessening crowd noise, Arsenal’s verve faded and the goal-glut that was promised never materialised.

There was an impressive showing from attacking midfielder Smith Rowe, who was introduced just after the hour mark and within minutes grabbed Arsenal’s fourth goal when he found space to tap in Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ cross.

The Gunners continued to pile forward, but good goalkeeping, desperate blocks and shots that flew inches wide kept the final score at 4-1.

The fans didn’t leave early as they so often do. They stayed until the end to lap up the applause from the Arsenal players.

Arteta was “delighted” to see the return of the home crowd. He said: “The club has made such an effort to make sure everything was set up in the right way so hopefully the fans had a good night, they were tremendous for us.

“I’m delighted to have them back. They made a huge contribution. There was only 2,000 but it felt and sounded like a lot more.

“They were very supportive and encouraging to the team and the players have been saying what a huge difference it made. They felt that support.”

Arsenal: Runarsson; Cedric, Mustafi (Chambers, 70), Mari, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles; Nelson (Willian, 63), Pepe, Elneny (Ceballos, 63); Nketiah (Balogun, 81), Lacazette (Smith Rowe, 63)
Substitutes not used: Leno, Macey, Tierney, Saka, Holding, Willock, Azeez

Rapid Vienna: Strebinger; Sonnleitner. Hofmann (Barac, 45), Greiml; Arase, Demir, Schuster, Ritzmaier (Knasmullner, 66), Ullmann (Schick, 45); Kitagawa (Kara, 66), Alar (Sulzbacher, 78)
Substitutes not used: Gartier, Hedl, Grahovac, Stojkovic, Ibrahimoglu