Arsenal got back to winning ways after back-to-back losses as they beat Newcastle United 2-0 at Saint James Park.
The win helps put their minds in a more confident state ahead of their crunch Europa League semi-final second leg later this week.
It was a game that most of their players took seriously. Here is the player ratings:
Arsenal player ratings
Mat Ryan – 6
Impressive showing from the Australian and he looks well on his way to do another Emi Martinez on Bernd Leno.
Hector Bellerin -7
This was one of the best ways to respond to being dropped for Calum Chambers in recent weeks and he has done his chances of starting against Villarreal a world of good.
David Luiz – 7
You never quite know which Luiz will turn up for a game, but the best showed up in this one. He was an impressive leader at the back and helped to build attacks through the wings very well. Hopefully, he is not seriously injured.
Gabriel Magalhaes – 6
Solid but not spectacular and kept his performance up when Luiz was injured.
Granit Xhaka – 6
Still being played out of position and still doesn’t look comfortable, but he will be happy to contribute to the clean sheet.
Mohamed Elneny – 7
Made a fine start to the game and scored a deserved goal, but faded somewhat after the break.
Dani Ceballos – 6
Nothing spectacular about his performance and he would have to play better on Thursday if he is selected to start.
Willian – 6
Delivered some fine balls into the box, but it was yet another less than expected performance from him.
Martin Odegaard – 6
Looks like he needs more time to get some rhythm after his injury. Just did his job on a normal level.
Gabriel Martinelli – 8
Another rare start and another fine performance. He was a menace to Josh Murphy all day and created a goal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7
You could tell he is not fully match-fit yet, but he gave a solid performance and topped it with a goal.
Substitutes
Calum Chambers – 6
Brought on for David Luiz and played as a centre-back, he delivered a solid performance.
Nicolas Pepe – 6
We already won the game when he came on.
Thomas Partey – n/a
Arsenal player ratings from Ime
Luiz MOTM for me and I would say our second best player this season behind Saka .
Hopefully Martinelli gets some protection from refs in the future because they don’t half go in hard on him and he’s not the sort of player to go down easy .
I actually think Xhaka did better than a 6 . Didn’t get beaten down that wing, was a lot more involved in attack, I figure he looked a little comfortable. He was also key in the game management phase.
Yes Xhaka played well but was lucky not to be sent off and that is his biggest problem, he’s a hot head and always liable to get carded.
Credit to him, he played within himself after the yellow (shoulder barge aside). Not sure why Newcastle didnt go at him, probably because Bruce is a shite manager (although Martenelli worked his socks off offer some protection.
Very impressed with Chambers’ cameo at CB and with Bellerin. Both would be in my Thursday starting line-up.
In the last 30 minutes it felt like Auba was getting his mojo back.
Dribblers hate it when their mark doesnt run. As you’ll notice, since he started playing there, you can count on your fingers the number of times he’s been beaten or even run at. It’s all because he doesnt advance too far in attack and retreats pretty early on defense. So it’s not just bruce.
Just to refresh your memory, how many times did Chukweze beat him?
Yes, Xhaka stayed behind most of the time. Unlike Tierney who usually plays as our winger
Xhaka played well…definitely a 7 would be fair
The same with Viera, Petit and Kean…
they are hot headed and get sent offs
the difference is Xhaka is not the media darling
@JI. Are you kidding? Just what do you see in xhaka? He is s liability , a wallkng Arsenal time bomb, how nany games has he cost us since he came. His stats are high simply because he is a coward, break a leg balls to his team mates because he doesnt have a football brain.
In ydy ‘s game, we were lucky not to be a man down and his simple balls almost cost us 2x, lucky it was Newcastle. This p…k should be sold and hopefully the new manager will
Nor as good a footballer as the 3 players mentioned.
Ceballos isn’t playing on Thursday due to a red card, so get that fact right.
I enjoyed watching Martinelli, Ryan and Elneny.
Kept tinz tidy
Hopefully ceballos leaves next season
He is leaving! Unless Fraudteta renews his loan!
Luiz best player on the pitch today, 8 and very impressed with Ryan, 7, two good saves and commanded his box which is great to see because Leno doesn’t!
Willian should be a 4 maximum
For the season yes. Not today. He was better than that without doing anything spectacular.6 is fair.
lol
I do not think 6 is fair, because he does not run , he stops and walks instead of running with the ball.
This is not what is asked for an attacker or winger.
Happy to see Auba score although he was clearly not match fit. Martinelli MOM. Xhaka is a nutter, but not a LB. Ceballos is a headless chicken not a footballer. Willian is a pushover. Lets face the truth, we will not get an easier EPL game ever again. We are not great, but Newcastle are capital RUBBISH. Still it’s good to get an easy win.
Ryan’s catching technique looked great and it seemed to make our defenders more confident
Aubameyang’s shooting was excellent as well. I don’t think the other strikers at Arsenal could do that in the games and I saw Martinelli trained with that shooting technique last month
Some things are just instinctive. Any player can pull that off. It would still be spectacular from anyone still. It was more down to pure desire than skill.
I want to see Matt in next match. Credit to Bellerin he looked good and Chambers changed positions with no problem, credit to him too.
ElNeny seemed impressive in the first half, but dropped, may be lack stamina, to be fair to him the whole team dropped.
Martin is not there yet, he should not start next match.
I wish he gave Cedric a go on the left especially that Dani would be suspended in EL and we can need Xhaka in midfeild.
Or may be tried Chambers midfield. ElNeny is not really my choice to start in EL but he will gain confidence after today.
I still think Gabi is better in the middle but he is growing on left wing as well.
Ceballos and Odegaard looked quiet, but they were the ones who passed the ball diagonally to the other sides. Steve Bruce fell into Arteta’s overload trap
About Ceballos’ replacement, I prefer to put Partey or Willian on the left side of the midfield and keep Elneny as the focal point in the middle. Partey’s dribbling skill could be handy to cut inside from the left and pass diagonally to the right side if required
I predict Tierney is still not match-fit. So we’d need Xhaka to stay behind, to protect us from Chukwueze’s counter-attacks
Willian would be a gamble in the no.8. he kacks stamina, strength and defensive attributes. I was hoping to have Xhaka and Partey and we find a left back.
If Xhaka is our left back, I would wonder if Smith rowe or Martin can do the number 8 and the other as 10. But Martin does not seem sgarp enough to start for me. I hope he steps up.
ElNeny would be a gamble honestly, in his day, he is good but sometimes barely average especially defensively.
Do you think we should start Chambers or Bellerin in the right back? And who is your pick in left winger and forward?
Yes, Smith-Rowe can be Ceballos’ replacement on the left side of the midfield as well
About RB, I prefer Bellerin because he’s better in attacking and faster. But it’ll be okay if Arteta starts Chambers instead, because Chambers is more threatening in corner situations
About LW, I’d like to see Martinelli again if he’s fit. Aubameyang will likely play CF, since he’s the captain
Curious why the club is reportedly breaking their neck to sign Odegaard. Am I the only one who thinks he hasn’t shown why we should sign him on a permanent basis? Espescially with the price Madrid are going to charge.
You are the only one. He’s one of those players that are willing to play the high risk passes every other player isn’t.
You are not the only one
explain how our midfield has improved since he’s been introduced? We are still barley scoring and can go almost a whole game without creating a decent chance. Why spend 40mill+ for this player?
I don’t think we can judge him on assists alone, but let’s bring it to key passes. He had in this match.
He showed promise but no we should not break the bank for him.
I prefer Smith Rowe to him, he is not Bruno, I am afraid.
Odegaard’s main strengths are his excellent close control and great work rate, but he’s not as adventurous and creative as Ceballos. I agree that 40 M is too much, but Odegaard could potentially be a great merchandise and shirt seller for Arsenal
I prefer to try Cottrell or Patino instead, unless we can loan Odegaard again. Arteta’s asymmetrical 4-3-3 needs a left-footed mezzala like him
Martinelli MOTM for me. Always lively and dangerous in the attack and worked his socks off defensively.
Beautiful assist to Auba, Martinelli has such good instincts around the box it’s amazing.
Good job by Arteta; quick transitions to attack for a change, well organized, and had the fellas ready to go from the whistle.
Much credit and well deserved. I trash him when he’s bad so he deserves praise when he gets things right. Don’t care about opponent or how they play, I care about our setup, selections, and tactics.
Well done by all, 3 points, hopeful it builds confidence going into Thursday.
agree with Marts for MOTM…to think he created that much of a problem for the opposition without any overlapping help whatsoever from the deeper-lying Xhaka…of course, every so often Arteta will have Ceballos slide out wide to provide some assistance, but most of his efforts were of the solo variety
just wish we had a chance to see what Auba, Marts and Saka could have produced this season, with the proper tactics in play…it’s clear that Auba’s presence in the middle made it exceedingly more difficult for the Newcastle defenders to commit to wide-side double-teams too often, which would be a salivating 1 v. 1 proposition for both Saka and Marts against most opponents…hopefully we might see them together on Thursday with ESR playing the Ceballos role
on a side note, how ironic that we can’t even protest at the same level as our longtime foes…if you want to make a statement to your ownership create just enough of a commotion that they have to postpone an Internationally covered match…this is how you both draw attention to the cause and put the fear of potential dollars lost squarely in the forefront of their money-hungry minds
felt it necessary to make a qualifying statement regarding my last paragraph…at the time of writing this I wasn’t privy to any info regarding the potential for injuries, serious or otherwise, to either the police or staff members…my point was simply that if we really wanted to get Kroenke’s attention, finding a peaceful way to have a game with such a large viewership to be postponed would do the trick, considering the potential financial implications, both short and long-term…not to mention, it would allow us to express our displeasure to a wider audience, which could encourage him to finally move on from the club…that said, I don’t condone violence of any sort and anyone who is found to be conducting themselves in such a manner should be punished to the full extent of the law
👍
The Norwegian kid put in a good performance coming off a lay off … near … excellent vision and positive … how anyone could rate him on same level as xhaka and below bellerin is absurd .. helped control midfield with elneny and ceballos
Yeah thought Odegaard played great in the midfield, really bossed the middle. Thought both he and Elneny rated better than Bellerin this match.
Bellerin was good don’t get me wrong, but not more influential than Odegaard or Elneny. Luiz and Gabriel both solid, but Martinelli was everywhere looking lively on both sides of the ball.
Bossed the LW, always tracking back, and great vision and weight for his assist.
Deserves and earned a start on Thursday quite frankly.
👍 👍
Fingers crossed David Luiz fit for Thursday
Chambers was doing excellent at RCD before his injury. I’ve always preferred him there over Holding plus Chambers is a better ball distributor (both of them doesn’t even deserve that title to be honest).
Martinelli is Sanchez like, kid is a Duracell. Also credit to Arteta, loved the way he managed the game in the closing stages. More of this Arteta
That late challenge on Martinelli unfortunately would give Arteta a strong reason to bench the kid on Thursday and play Pepe instead.
Shame..
Front three should be
Martinelli Aubameyang Saka
Odegaard
Smith Rowe Partey
Xhaka Gabriel Holding Chambers/Cedric
Ryan
That late challenge was an unnecessary crime. I was happy Shar was shown the red, why the hell he pulled that tackle.
El Neny > Partey
QD, early days at Arsenal and you may regret that statement, as plenty will disagree now.
@Ozziegunner
Hehe! I hope so but so far El Neny has scored 2 stunning goals to Partey’s zero.
He has improved massively on that front.
But the position has more functions than long range shooting and that is where Partey has advantage.
As usual, I found your ratings puzzling. Aubamayang scored, was a passenger for most of the game, gets a 7, Ryan makes a very important save, does nothing wrong, a 6. Odergaard and Ceballos got the ball moving forward a 6, while Elneny whose defensive errors were overlooked scores a 7. If anything it was a very good team performance with the only standout being Martinellii.
My MOTM was Luiz
Ceballos and Willian 3 or 4 .. were so poor today!
We were saved by Elneny and Ryan, they deserve 8 at least!
Sell Leno. Keep Ryan and sign Nick Pope.
Play Cedric Lb against Villarreal
Sign Bisoumma and Ben white
Even sign chukawese from Villarreal and a striker