FT: ARSENAL 3-1 VALENCIA by Alfie
A fantastic result after a difficult last 10 days. Whilst conceding an away goal makes us vulnerable, you would expect us to see out the tie now despite our atrocious away record. We started poorly, understandably portraying a lack of confidence and nervousness, and this was reflected in the scoreline, as Valencia took the lead from a corner, an area where we have been strong defensively this season, but appear to have lost that of late.
We looked deflated and lost for ideas in the opening exchanges but Lacazette and Aubameyang’s beautiful interchange saw us level and from then on our confidence was rejuvenated, and we began to control the game, playing with increased incision and intensity. We ended the half on the front foot, despite Valencia still looking threatening, and could have had more goals had we been more ruthless in the final third. This pattern continued in the second period, with both teams looking threatening, and the fact that we only added one more goal may come back to bite us as we missed 2 or 3 glorious chances.
A much needed performance and it was nice to see us control a game again, having not done this at all in recent weeks, taking the initiative like an Arsenal side should do. Ultimately, our strikers won us the game, both looking very impressive not just scoring goals but creating and holding the ball up well (the most complete Aubameyang performance I’ve seen this season). They will be key in potentially winning this competition. We move onto our final home game of the season at Brighton.
PLAYER RATINGS vs Valencia:
0️⃣1️⃣ Cech 7
2️⃣0️⃣ Mustafi 7
0️⃣5️⃣ Sokratis 7
0️⃣6️⃣ Koscielny 8
1️⃣5️⃣ Maitland-Niles 6
2️⃣9️⃣ Guendouzi 6
3️⃣4️⃣ Xhaka 7
3️⃣1️⃣ Kolasinac 6
1️⃣0️⃣ Ozil 7
1️⃣4️⃣ Aubameyang 9
0️⃣9️⃣ Lacazette 9 –
1️⃣1️⃣ Torreira 6
0️⃣7️⃣ Mkhitaryan 7
1️⃣8️⃣ Monreal 6 –
Tell me your thoughts below, and if you don’t understand some of my ratings, ask below and I’ll give some justification…
Alfie Culshaw