Alexis Sanchez’s goal opened the floodlights for the Gunners in the opening period and David Ospina had to save Arsenal a lot of times before Walcott’s strike put the game beyond a shadow of doubt.
– Mesut Ozil scored his first hat-trick for Arsenal in any competition and he is the fifth player to score one in the Champions League for the Gunners.
The only concern for Arsenal was Santi Cazorla’s substitution after taking a kick to his Achilles tendon.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hailed Mesut Ozil’s first career hat trick as further evidence that the German playmaker is getting a “taste to score goals“.
“It’s nothing that I can say now because sometimes I have to criticise him as well”, he revealed.
In the early stages of the game, Ludogorets posed a threat to Arsenal from its swift counter-attacking, but Arsenal took the lead in the 13th minute through Alexis Sanchez.
Ozil nearly turned provider for a fifth with a little over 20 minutes left, lifting a no-look chipped pass over for Oxlade-Chamberlain, who saw his first-time volley kept out by Stoyanov.
Ludogorets, Bulgarian champions or not, were undoubtedly the unfancied minnows of Arsenal’s Champions League group.
“It’s about having identity, and we are doing very well reading the game”, said Mustafi.
“He got a kick on the back of his Achilles tendon and I took him off as quick as possible”, Wenger told reporters after the game, according to the Independent.
The win leaves Arsenal sitting pretty at the top of Group A, and with main rivals Paris St-Germain still to visit the Emirates there is every chance they could finish top too. They just need to keep this up to keep on top.
Wenger also insisted Sanchez would be fit to face Middlesbrough in the Premier League on Saturday after the former Barcelona star came off in the 73rd minute.
“It is not about winning six games, losing one, winning four, losing one”.
“We are all sort of on the right sort of rhythm together and when you have got that on the team it bodes well for the future, I think”.
– This game marked the first time since October 2000 that two English players scored in a Champions League match for Arsenal (Ray Parlour and Lee Dixon vs Sparta Prague).
Keep up with the latest football updates by following ESPN FC on Twitter.