Arsenal finished top of Group F in the Europa League with a 2 – 2 draw away at Standard Liege.
2 – 0 down, Arsenal came from behind to secure the draw. Due to Vitoria coming back to beat Frankfurt 3 – 2 in the other game, it was enough to secure top spot.
Interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg picked a youthful team for the match, as is Arsenal’s policy for the Europa League.
If there is one major positive about Ljungberg, it’s that he was previously the youth coach for Arsenal. Therefore, he knows the young players who the team have invested in this season very well.
Read: Jose Mourinho – Teams Won’t Want To Play Us
Bukayo Saka, playing at left back, fired in the cross from which Alexandre Lacazette scored Arsenal’s first goal. Then he got the equalizer, finishing smartly after a quick exchange with Gabriel Martinelli.
It’s easy to see why Saka, along with Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith-Rowe and Ainsley Maitland Niles are so highly thought of.
The Gunners unloaded Henrikh Mikhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, Mohammed Elneny and Aaron Ramsey to accommodate a project based on youth. It has yielded mixed results so far, but moments like Saka’s goal on Thursday show what could be in store.
After the game, Ljungberg was delighted for his young guns.
“He (Saka) was amazing,” he said.
I think he was a bit upset with me before the game that he had to play wing-back and then full-back! Because he doesn’t like it so much.”
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“I felt sorry sometimes for our young players because a lot of them have not been on loan. So they haven’t got that exposure to play 90 minutes of men’s football for a longer period of time. Experienced players need to take the lead.
“So I felt in this game that I wanted to get them on the pitch to get that experience, because I know how good they are but they just don’t have experience and some of them, yes, they made some mistakes today.
“But I think from those mistakes they won’t redo them and that’s invaluable for them and we won the group.”
