Arsenal faced off against Newcastle United earlier tonight looking to leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United with a win in front of their home supporters. The Gunners began the match on the offensive and took the lead in the 30th minute through Aaron Ramsey’s perfectly placed finish. However, the Magpies put up a stern resistance after conceding the opening goal to go into half-time with a narrow one-goal disadvantage.
The second half was more of the same with the home side dominating possession while Newcastle tried to threaten on the counter. However, Unai Emery’s men made the points secure when super substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang combined with Alexandre Lacazette with a beautiful give and go, and the French striker made no mistake from close range. The match ended with the final scoreline of 2-0 in favour of the Gunners.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player performed during the match against the Magpies.
GK: Bernd Leno – 7/10
The Newcastle attackers hardly tested him, and the German keeper managed to secure a comfortable clean sheet tonight.
CB: Shkodran Mustafi – 5/10
By far, the weakest link in the Gunners backline, the German was clumsy on the ball and made some poor tackles during the match.
CB: Sokratis Papastathopoulos – 6/10
The Greek defender fouled Florian Lejeune in the lead up to Ramsey’s disallowed goal in the first half. He also struggled to cope with Salomon Rondon’s threat but did enough to earn a shut-out on the night.
CB: Nacho Monreal – 6.5/10
The Spaniard did what he was asked to do while operating as a makeshift centre-back. However, he did commit a reckless challenge on Miguel Almiron and got a yellow card.
RM: Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 6/10
The Gunners youngster showed a lot of promise going forward, but he was a bit vulnerable while defending in his own half.
CM: Aaron Ramsey – 9/10
The Welshman had a goal disallowed, but he kept going and finally managed to make the breakthrough in the 30th minute. His performance tonight proved that he would be a significant loss for the North London outfit when he leaves in the summer.
CM: Matteo Guendouzi – 6/10
The French starlet was always looking to get on the ball but was quite wasteful with his passes. However, to his credit, he was full of energy and running in midfield.
LM: Sead Kolasinac – 6/10
He was a fantastic outlet for Arsenal down the left flank, but his crosses into the Newcastle box left a lot to be desired.
RAM: Mesut Özil – 8/10
The German talent pulled strings from midfield and played some delightful through balls to create openings for his teammates.
LAM: Alex Iwobi – 5/10
He was a bit underwhelming for the Gunners tonight. Iwobi gave away the ball on quite a few occasions and struggled to make an impact inside the Magpies penalty box.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 8/10
The French striker was a bit quiet in the first half and was unfortunate not to have found the back of the net just before half-time when his goal-bound shot was cleared off the line by Matt Ritchie. However, he linked up with Aubameyang well and scored a breathtaking goal in the second half to seal the points for Arsenal.
Substitutes:
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7/10
His pace up top caused a lot of problems for the Magpies defenders. He even managed to grab an assist after some neat interchange with Lacazette.
CM: Mohamed Elneny – 6/10
He worked hard for his team and provided some fresh energy to the Gunners midfield.
CAM: Henrikh Mkhitaryan – N/A
Not enough time to make an impact.
