After the initial troubles of losing to Liverpool and Stoke City, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal have settled quite properly again in the Premier League. They certainly haven’t hammered teams like the Manchester clubs but they’ve managed to get the results to move in the right direction. Similarly, they got the result over Brighton at the Emirates as well in what was the culmination of a very tedious week for Arsene Wenger’s men.
An early goal from Nacho Monreal and a thumping finish from Alex Iwobi in the second half was enough to see off the Seagulls on a comfortable afternoon. Here’s how the Arsenal players have been rated in their win over Brighton & Hove.
GK: Petr Cech – 7/10
His job all afternoon was to paw away the crosses or corners. The earned clean-sheet is obviously a positive.
RWB: Hector Bellerin – 7/10
Got forward well on occasions and his delivery looked really good today. Troubled by Izquierdo but he dealt with him nicely.
CB: Rob Holding – 6/10
He was calm and composed and showed no signs of fatigue after playing in Belarus just this Thursday.
CB: Shkodran Mustafi – 6.5/10
Had a comfortable game and dealt with Brown easily. His test only started after Murray came on but he was focused and solid. Got beat once aerially but that was it.
CB: Nacho Monreal – 7/10
Got a rare goal early on and settled into the game well. Showed no signs of complacency.
LWB: Saed Kolasinac – 7.5/10
Patrolled down the left side effortlessly but time and again he had to deal with Sully March as well. At the end of the day, he was unlucky to have got something in terms of the end product but lots of positives to take from this performance.
CM: Granit Xhaka – 6.5/10
Moved the ball around nicely and acted like a launchpad from the centre. He was tidy enough today and got the job done.
AM: Aaron Ramsey – 6/10
Had a great effort denied by Ryan and since then he was a bit rusty and sloppy. Should work harder to finish things.
RF: Alex Iwobi – 6.5/10
Made good runs down the right but he is often guilty of keeping the ball for a long time. Pummeled the ball that came to him and put it into the net after a glorious backheel from Sanchez. He got the reward for his efforts.
LF: Alexis Sanchez – 8/10
Dazzled and dribbled past the players several times and he kept the things ticking without giving up. Gave away possession at times but he got a lovely assist after pulling off that special backheel.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 6/10
Average today and he had his chances to score but some of them were blocked and he didn’t do justice to a few through balls. Was unlucky to hit the bar with such a smashing shot in the first 75 seconds.
Substitutions
FW: Olivier Giroud – 5.5/10
Had some noticeable contributions aerially but nothing great otherwise.
RF: Theo Walcott – 5/10
Replaced Iwobi and didn’t make any impact.
CM: Mohamed Elneny – N/A
Came on very late.
