Arsenal faced off against Olympiacos at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium earlier tonight, hoping to secure a win in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League last 16 tie. The Gunners made a bright start to the clash and took the lead in the 34th minute courtesy of Martin Odegaard’s goal. However, Youssef El-Arabi equalised for the Greek giants in the 58th minute.
Mikel Arteta’s side pushed on in search of their second goal and finally found it via Gabriel’s towering header in the 79th minute. Just six minutes later, Mohamed Elneny found the back of the net from a screamer as well to give the North London outfit a comfortable 3-1 win on the road.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player fared during the match against Olympiacos.
GK: Bernd Leno – 5/10
The Arsenal keeper made a blunder as he played a poor pass to Ceballos, which led to El-Arabi scoring the equaliser. Otherwise, he didn’t have too many problems and performed well enough to restrict the opposition from scoring more than once.
RB: Hector Bellerin – 7/10
The Spaniard made a couple of important clearances at the back. He also pulled off some quick dashes out on the right flank and managed to engineer a decent chance for his team.
CB: David Luiz – 6/10
The Brazilian centre-back cleared his lines when required and was relatively tidy with his passing during the game. He made one huge mistake in the first half though when he gave the ball away in his own penalty box, but thankfully, the north London giants did not pay for that.
CB: Gabriel – 8/10
Gabriel was strong in the air and didn’t put a foot wrong in the game defensively. He ended the game with a goal and an assist to his name. The goal especially was well taken as he showed a lot more desire than M’Vila to get to the end of the ball.
LB: Kieran Tierney – 7/10
The Scottish left-back was a solid presence inside his half and orchestrated a meaningful opening going forward.
CM: Granit Xhaka – 7/10
The Swiss talent hardly gave away the ball and made some promising runs from midfield.
CM: Thomas Partey – 7/10
Partey protected his teammates at the back when called into action. He was also a real handful in the Olympiacos half and got an assist to show for his efforts.
LW: Willian – 7.5/10
The Brazilian playmaker caused all sorts of problems for the Olympiacos defenders and managed to secure an assist during his time on the field. He ran out of gas and got replaced in the latter stages of the game.
CAM: Martin Odegaard – 8/10
Odegaard opened the goal-scoring for the Gunners with an absolutely screamer of a strike and was responsible for creating a few inviting opportunities for others around him.
RW: Bukayo Saka – 6.5/10
Saka had some lively moments in the opposition half but didn’t do enough to get himself a goal.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7/10
The experienced striker was not shy about having a shot at goal but will be disappointed about not getting his name on the scoresheet.
Substitutes:
CM: Dani Ceballos – 5/10
Ceballos gave away the ball, which gifted Olympiacos a goal in the second half.
CM: Mohamed Elneny – 7/10
He came off the bench to score Arsenal’s third goal. Well taken goal as he decided to try his luck from a distance after not being challenged by the Olympiacos defenders.
CAM: Emile Smith Rowe – N/A
Smith Rowe did not get enough time to make an impact.
LW: Nicolas Pepe – N/A
He added some pace to the Arsenal attack.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – N/A
The Frenchman came on to run the clock down.
