Arsenal welcomed West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates Stadium earlier this evening as they hoped to pick up all three points at home. The Gunners made an impressive start to the game and got themselves ahead in the 29th minute when Emile Smith Rowe scored with a powerful volley. Nicolas Pepe doubled the home side’s lead just six minutes later when he found the back of the net with a beautiful, curled effort. The North London outfit controlled the match well and cruised to a 2-0 lead at the half-time break.
Matheus Pereira got a goal back for the Baggies with a sublime finish in the 67th minute. However, Willian sealed the points for Arsenal when he scored with a great free-kick in the 90th minute. The contest finished with Mikel Arteta’s men earning a comfortable 3-1 victory at the English capital.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player performed during the clash against the Baggies.
GK: Bernd Leno – 6/10
The German goalie was hardly troubled during the game but couldn’t do much to deny Pereira a goal in the second half which extinguished his hopes of a clean sheet.
RB: Calum Chambers – 7/10
Chambers was solid when defending inside his half as he made a couple of interceptions and cleared his lines when needed. He was also quite lively going forward and has got an assist to show for his efforts.
CB: Rob Holding – 6.5/10
The English centre-back cleared the danger when called into action and passed the ball relatively well out from the back.
CB: Gabriel – 6.5/10
The Brazilian defender was a dominant figure in the air and dealt with almost everything that came his way on the defensive end of the field.
LB: Bukayo Saka – 8/10
He was defensively solid and engineered some decent chances in the final third. Saka also set up Emile Smith Rowe’s opening goal with a whipped cross.
CM: Mohamed Elneny – 7/10
Elneny timed his tackles well to earn possession back a few times during the game and managed to protect his backline effectively during the 90 minutes.
CM: Dani Ceballos – 6.5/10
The Spanish sensation successfully disrupted the opposition’s rhythm in the game but offered very little in the opposition half.
RM: Willian – 8/10
The Brazilian playmaker caused all kinds of headaches for the opposition and scored a well-deserved goal with an excellent freekick from 25 yards out in the second half.
CAM: Emile Smith Rowe – 7.5/10
Smith Rowe gave Arsenal the lead with a ferocious volley in the first half. However, he was quite average after the half-time interval and got replaced in the 62nd minute.
LM: Nicolas Pepe – 8/10
Pepe was a constant menace for the Baggies and produced a moment of magic when he curled the ball in with a brilliant strike in the first half.
ST: Gabriel Martinelli – 6/10
The Brazilian youngster made one good chance but never looked like he had a goal in him. He got substituted in the 59th minute.
Substitutes:
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 6/10
The Frenchman made a couple of decent runs but didn’t do enough to get his name on the scoresheet.
LB: Kieran Tierney – 6/10
He added some energy to Arsenal’s backline.
CM: Thomas Partey – 6/10
Partey did enough to keep the West Brom attackers at bay in the latter stages.
