Arsenal 3-0 Olympiakos: Inevitable, eventually

Sometimes, the journey to a similar destination to which one has traveled in years gets boring. You see the same landmarks, stop at the same rest areas, eat at the same restaurants, and before you know it you're just sorta numb to the experience of getting somewhere and you just...get there.

This year's journey to the Champions League knockout stages, Arsenal's 16th consecutive such journey, was the exact opposite of what I just described. If the path to Monday night's draw were a road trip, it'd be much more Family Circus Road Map-style than Shortest Journey Between Two Points Is A Straight Line-style, but six months from now, no one will care; Arsenal are through to the Round of 16 again, and that's what matters.

How did they get there? Olivier Giroud made sure they got there. The Frenchman scored all three of Arsenal's goals, including the penalty that made it 3-0 and put an exclamation point on the whole thing. The only really...sour? Bad? Negative? whatever, the only off note is that Mesut Özil played the whole game; even for a fan base that is used to Arsene not rotating, ever, that was a little baffling given how busy the next three weeks will be.

But, whatever; Arsenal are through. The draw is Monday night, and we'll have a lot more on said draw in the next few days.