Kieran Tierney stars for Arsenal in Europa League win vs Zurich

Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney produced his best performance of the campaign on Thursday night as the club finished top of their Europa League group.

The Gunners had to match PSV’s result against Bodo/Glimt yesterday to finish as the table-toppers and they did exactly so with a slender 1-0 win over Zurich.

They had Tierney to thank for the result. The Scot has been in-and-out of the line-up this term, but made the difference last night with a splendid opening goal.

Tierney struck with a superb long-range strike in the 17th minute and it proved sufficient in the end.

The Gunners needed to dig in the final minutes, but they managed to keep Zurich at bay. The Swiss champions definitely grew in confidence as the game progressed.

Tierney was undoubtedly the stand-out performer last night. Aside from his goal, Tierney won five out of his seven duels contested while producing two key passes.

The Scotland ace also won two tackles with four long balls. He definitely seemed like a player with a point to prove and should fancy his chances of starting on Sunday.

The left-back deserves to retain his spot against Chelsea in the Premier League after yesterday’s showing.

His chances could be improved particularly with Takehiro Tomiyasu’s possible injury. The Japan star was seen clutching his hamstring, minutes after coming on.

Hopefully, there is nothing serious for Tomiyasu with the World Cup starting very soon. Mikel Arteta now has the option to play a fit Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.

We would be truly amazed if Zinchenko is picked ahead of Tierney, considering he has just had a couple of training sessions following a lengthy calf problem.

Arsenal are currently first in the Premier League with a two-point lead over Manchester City. They may need to beat Chelsea for the third-straight season at Stamford Bridge to stay top.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com and SofaScore.com