Arsenal travelled to Italy looking for respite from a torrid recent run during which the north London club have lost four straight games for the first time since October 2002.<\/p>\n
A toxic atmosphere has been hanging over the club as fans continue to turn against Wenger, with 88% of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust’s (AST) 1,000 members voting this week in favour of the 68-year-old Frenchman’s contract being terminated at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
Few of the 2,000 or so Gunners fans who travelled to the San Siro would have been confident of seeing a positive performance.<\/p>\n
But they watched a display containing commitment and organisation – two qualities sorely lacking in recent weeks – against a Milan side revitalised under Gennaro Gattuso.<\/p>\n
Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck led the line superbly with his tireless running, allowing Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Ramsey to find space from deeper positions when the team attacked.<\/p>\n
And defensively, they worked hard as a unit – marshalled by skipper Laurent Koscielny – to deny Milan space in attacking areas.<\/p>\n
Arsenal’s problems are not going to be masked by one good result.<\/p>\n
However, their display could not help but give the impression that, even in their lowest moments, it would be foolish to write off their chances of somehow going on to win the Europa League and secure a route back into the Champions League.<\/p>\n
Gattuso’s Milan fail to live up to expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n Seven-time European champions Milan are a shadow of the force they once were, languishing in seventh place in Serie A despite spending more than \u00a3200m last summer in a bid to change their fortunes.<\/p>\n However, they went into Arsenal’s visit on a crest of a wave following the arrival of former midfielder Gattuso.<\/p>\n He has transformed their season since replacing the sacked Vincenzo Montella in November, leading them on a 13-match unbeaten run and giving them faint hope of climbing into Serie A’s European qualification places.<\/p>\n Therefore, there was optimism among the 70,000 Rossoneri fans inside the atmospheric San Siro that Gattuso’s side could make a huge statement in front of a bigger European audience.<\/p>\n It seemed justified as they pinned Arsenal back in the opening few minutes – but that was as difficult as it got for the Gunners.<\/p>\n Arsenal quickly wrestled their way back into the game, their passing and movement causing uncertainty in the Milan defence and their solidity seeing the home attack quickly run out of ideas.<\/p>\n Man of the match – Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Arsenal)<\/strong><\/p>\n While Koscielny, Ramsey and Ozil all had strong cases to be named man of the match, Mkhitaryan shaded it after producing one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt.<\/p>\n The Armenia international has showed few flashes of brilliance since arriving from Manchester United in January, but showed his quality in a competition where he has thrived since moving to England.<\/p>\n While Mkhitaryan struggled to make an impact in the Premier League for United last season, he scored six goals – including one in the final – as the Old Trafford club won the Europa League.<\/p>\n In the San Siro, he had already been giving young Milan right-back Davide Calabria a torrid time before putting Arsenal on the path to victory with his first goal for the Gunners.<\/p>\n He should have scored a second, clipping the crossbar shortly before Ramsey doubled the lead.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Mkhitaryan’s performance offered encouragement to the travelling fans who will want to see him produce similar displays on a more regular basis.<\/p>\n Ozil celebrates Arsenal century – stat attack<\/strong><\/p>\n What’s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n Back to the Premier League for sixth-placed Arsenal. The Gunners, who are 13 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham, host mid-table Watford at the Emirates on Sunday (13:30 GMT).<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal put their recent problems to one side as a polished performance at fallen giants AC Milan gave them the upper hand in their Europa League last-16 tie. The Gunners arrived at the San Siro at arguably the lowest point of manager Arsene Wenger’s 22-year reign, yet responded to a run of four straight defeats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":408105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[14994,145,1239],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Henrikh](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/240\/cpsprodpb\/3131\/production\/_100339521_mkhitaryan.jpg)
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