Arsenal fans will feel a whole lot better about life as we head into the first international break with a win under our belts. Despite a slightly edgy second half to the game after Watford scored, it was a much more Arsenal-like performance with the players looking sharper, and the returning Ozil and Cazorla adding real class. But it was the brilliant and industrious Alexis Sanchez who stole the show and got my vote as our Man of the Match.
Cech 8 – Unlucky to concede after saving and made some more key stops to ensure the win.
Bellerin 7.5 – Looked really sharp and caused Watford lots of trouble.
Holding 7 – Growing well into his role, looked calm and defended well.
Koscielny 7 – Commanding as usual but a couple of hairy moments.
Monreal 6 – Struggled a bit against Anrabat and Cech saved him from own goal.
Xhaka 7 – Good work rate and controlled the centre with Santi. At least one amazing raking pass.
Cazorla 7.5 – Great to have him back. Silky skills, all round ability and took penalty with aplomb.
Ozil 8 – I nearly gave MOTM to him after a brilliant first half but he faded a bit before going off.
Walcott 7 – Impressive game from Theo who gave us great width and penetration and set up second goal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain 6 – Good effort but needs more cutting edge.
Alexis 8.5 – Brilliant first half and tireless effort and deserves MOTM for that ball to Ozil alone.
subs:
Wilshere, Elneny and Gibbs 6 – All did their jobs pretty well to see out the match.
Bob.
It was a good game and Kudos to the players.. .i was ecstatic with Xhakas pinpoint long range passes simply because it’s been long I saw such from an Arsenal player. Ozil and Santi has that in them but seems like long range passes is Xhaka trademark. He looks up, sees a player and hit the pass. Lovely to watch.. .
and that will be handy in some games that we me caged to free up ourselves more so with the incoming Perez that would like that. Wenger should not change him to a sideways passer.
He’ll soon start doing short sideways passing matey 🙂
Have you noticed Elneny has stopped shooting too? 🙂
Put Sanchez on the wings and u will get yr results.
I will take Holding’s performance as striking but they all did well.
Carzola and Sanchez are back.
I think Sanchez was dampened by lack of activities in transfer market.
He was fantastic especially in creating Ozil’s goal. I don’t know how they did it as the communication was unthinkable.
Thought it was Koscielny who almost scored an own goal?
Against Liverpool and now Watford, opposite wingers/fullbacks have gone way too easily past Monreal. He is not to blame though as he hasn’t got any support from our wingers. Talking to you OX. The set up to goal conceded started from his wing. This needs to stop.
Thankfully Perez and even Giroud will be ready for Shampton match so bases on performances so far, I would start Theo and Sanchez on the wings and start Perez.
southampton are a strong defensive unit.
giroud may be better bet than perez .he wont be used to the rough an tumble of the pl
my concern is giroud slowing our attacks.
Sanchez back on the wing will fix the LB problem as well. Bellerin has the pace to get back quicker than Nacho, and even recover the ball if a player gets past him high up the pitch. Ox needs to do better, and Wenger needs to communicate better. The entire part of the 2nd half Monreal was playing he was defending alone. Someone like Conte or Mourinho would’ve screamed at Ox for not tracking back, especially since we had a lot less possession in general during 2nd half. Against a better team we could’ve let them back into the game.
Sanchez MOTM as a the winger he PLAYED
Sanchez FOTM as the striker he was SUPPOSED TO PLAY
There were lots of sweets moments in that match; Sanchez perfect ball to Ozil, Holding’s ball playing and aerial dominance,Xhaka’s tantalizing forward passes and defensive awareness,Cazorla’s technical excellence and nerve settling penalty goal, Ozil’s run from midfield to create an option for Sanchez, Walcott was busy throughout, and Cech’s outstanding saves….
It is a tough call as am not good at rating players, but I go for Sanchez as my MOTM,with a goal and a superb assist…
Very true. But one thing baffles me, what’s wrong with Walcott? Of all people he should be the last person to be caught offside. The guy is super fast and can give any defender a breathing space and still overtake him when running for those through balls, but nah!! Always under the linesman radar
I can’t see where Ramsey will get games in the middle, and that makes me happy. The trident of Mesut, Santi, Xhaka (Coquelin) is not one that Ramsey is technically good enough or disciplined enough to break into.
I think Arsene knows this, knows that Ramsey will have to play wide or not play, which is why he let Joel Campbell leave.
@TH14atl
Thats sad though. Because Aaron on the wing is a disaster…
I agree. He does not truthfully help us wide.
Ramsey will get game time any how, even if it means resting one of the high performers like Xhaka or Cazorla
Granit “Da Hawk” Xhaka…Dude looks like a hawk.
Midfield leader, hard tackler, precise passer and captaincy material, Xhaka is really our next Viera. I was critical of the buy tbh as I thought it would reduce Jack’s game time and Xhaka has already proven me wrong. As with Holding, he played as though he had been playing at this level for his entire career, a steal for 3 mil. We’ve got two more players in and it all looks well set for challenging for the title. On a side note, Lacazette has a knee injury. Apparently the last thing we need is another Welbeck. COYG!
@TH14at/
Ramsey is a waist of time…he is a good fit for wales n not for Arsenal…
Any team in premier league would love to have a fit Aaron Ramsey…he was probably the stand out player in the Euros…He has an amazing engine and constantly thinking about getting in box. Expecting a great season from him, especially with decent DMs now. A very cunning player, not many of them about. Predict at least 10 goals from Welsh wizard.
BTW ..it’s waste not waist.
Great game from d boys except OX still plays School-boy style of football unfortunately! He’s been here long enough to grow.
Xhaka looks like normal Arsenal material, lie he’s been here two/three seasons. Santi, Ozil, Sanchez… looks really good, only I would Love Alexis release d ball earlier than his dribbles &turnings.
Great goal from Sanchez, great pass to Ozil for his goal!
Looking good, yet, we need steel against Big Teams!!!!!