Jack Wilshere brace helps Arsenal close in on goal

Once again, Arsenal’s place in the draw for the Champions League knockout stages seems like an annual part of the fixture calendar. They won this game with something to spare and there is surely too much confidence rippling through this side to believe they will fritter it all away now. Arsene Wenger’s team will have made it 14 years in a row if they can avoid a three-goal defeat in their final match at Napoli.

Arsenal made light work of overcoming Marseille, on a night when the one-sidedness was not truly reflected by their inability to add to Jack Wilshere's two goals.

First goal
The first arrived after 33 seconds and Wilshere made the game safe midway through the second half. In between, Mesut Ozil's penalty was saved by the Marseille goalkeeper, Steve Mandanda, and Arsenal racked up more chances than they would probably care to remember. Wilshere now has four goals in his last eight Arsenal appearances and Aaron Ramsey continues to mature as a player.

Marseille, fourth-placed team in Ligue 1, had lost all their previous fixtures in Group F. Their manager, Elie Baup, had used this occasion to experiment. Mathieu Valbuena was among those left out of the starting line-up and it quickly became apparent Arsenal could get behind the opposition defence with great frequency.

Wilshere was playing as a left-footed right-winger, coming in off the flank, and though it is not his orthodox position he will have enjoyed the space the left-back, Jeremy Morel, afforded him. Morel had lost his man when Bacary Sagna’s first touch of the night sent Wilshere running clear. Darting into the penalty area he turned inside Lucas Mendes, one touch steadied himself, the next clipped a lovely, curling shot into the top right corner.

If Arsenal had been more ruthless – and not just with the squandered penalty – Marseille's night would have degenerated into a damage-limitation exercise before half-time. First, Ramsey could not convert Wilshere's perfectly measured pass inside the six-yard area. Ramsey then flicked a clever up-and-under over the defence and there was a shudder of disbelief as Ozil was let down by his first touch.

Anxious moment
There was one brief flutter of anxiety when Wojciech Szczesny saved at Andre-Pierre Gignac's feet, but Marseille had carried themselves with little ambition and it must have been perplexing for Wenger that his team had not managed to inflict more damage before the break.

The Spanish referee, Antonio Lahoz, had already missed a pretty obvious penalty decision, Mendes yanking Oliver Giroud to the floor, by the time he penalised Nicolas N’Koulou’s challenge on Ramsey. The contact had been marginally outside the penalty area. Ozil never looked confident. The deception of stuttering his run did not work and Mandanda dived to his right to turn the ball away.

Arsenal set about reasserting their authority after the break still needing that second goal to make sure their opponents did not start sensing their luck might be in. Ozil spent more of the half on the right, with Wilshere switching to the left and Tomas Rosicky moving infield. Yet the three of them always had the licence to roam.

At times, their crossing was disappointing, with Sagna and Rosicky putting the ball straight out of play in a matter of minutes. A Giroud shot deflected off Kassim Abdallah and almost sneaked inside the near post. Ozil poked a shot goalwards. Mandanda saved again, and for the first time the crowd started to sound anxious.

Then the moment when everyone could relax. Baup had brought on Valbuena and Florian Thauvin but it did little to lift Marseille. Arsenal advanced again. Ramsey played the through-ball to Ozil and, running into the penalty area, it was a deft pass off the outside of his left boot to pick out Wilshere, surging through the middle to sweep in the goal.