Arsenal's winning run continues, with an important victory in what is likely to be a tough Champions League group. The opening day defeat by Aston Villa is beginning to feel like one of those bad dreams, in which you wake up in a cold sweat, but by the end of the day, you forget the dream ever happened.
Wojciech Szczesny - 7 – He had one hairy moment in a mix-up with Per Mertesacker, but otherwise gave a strong performance. His handling was solid, and he made a number of decent saves. Could do nothing about Marseille's penalty.
Bacary Sagna – 7 – He didn't get as forward as we often see, but Sagna was pretty faultless at the back. He had to deal with one of Marseille's dangermen in Andre Ayew, and largely kept him quiet.
Per Mertesacker – 7 – The German was generally his usual, dominant presence. He made plenty of good tackles and clearances. However, he made a howler of an attempted clearance in the second-half, almost conceding an own goal. Had that gone in, it could have resulted in a completely different scoreline.
Laurent Koscielny – 7 – A strong performance from the Frenchman. He did a fine job shackling his French international teammate, Andre-Pierre Gicnac, and managed to balance his propensity to sometimes over-commit himself into tackles.
Kieran Gibbs - 7 – He was arguably the game's best player. His defensive display was as good as I've seen from him, not only making a crucial goalline intervention, but making more clearances than any other player. His forward play improved in the second-half, nearly scoring, before assisting the first for Theo Walcott.
Mathieu Flamini – 7 – Flamini is something of a limited player, but he's not there to open up a team. He knows what his job is; break up the opposition's attacks, and get the ball to the more creative members of the side. He did that ably, and can be satisfied with his performance.
Aaron Ramsey – 7 – The Welshman had a poor first-half, with his passing wayward. And his late concession of a penalty was sloppy. However, he took his goal superbly, which turned out to be the winner. Not a great display, but (yet another) decisive one from Ramsey.
Mesut Ozil – 6 – Marseille were clearly aware of the danger Ozil presents, and acted accordingly, denying him space whenever possible. Ozil showed a few flashes of quality in the second-half, but this was a largely frustrating game for him. Expect to see better over the coming weeks.
Theo Walcott – 7 – Similar to Ramsey, this wasn't a vintage display from Walcott. He didn't make the most of the high-line employed by the Marseille defence, and was often on the periphery of the contest. However, he scored his first of the season with an excellent finish. Theo's worth persevering with if he continues to contribute an end product.
Olivier Giroud - 6 – An industrious display, if not very penetrative. Giroud worked hard to create space for his midfielders, but the fact that he didn't have a single shot in the match is a telling statistic. One fears that his ongoing knee problem was a factor.
Jack Wilshere – 6 – Wilshere made more dribbles than any other Arsenal player (4), and passed the ball tidily at times. However, he struggled to influence the contest, and still looks short of the necessary sharpness to perform at his best. Patience will be needed for the time being.
SUBS
Ryo Miyaichi – A late introduction for Flamini.
Nacho Monreal – The Spaniard made his now customary appearance to keep hold of the lead.
You still feel there's more to come from this Arsenal side, especially when you think of the players to come back from injury. But there's a better temperament in this Arsenal side than we've seen in years. In the past, they would have dropped points to both Marseille and Sunderland in the past few days. Journalist, Iain Macintosh summed up the performance thus, “Very odd performance from Arsenal. They started slowly, didn't pass well, but showed great mental strength and took their chances.”
Well, I'll take that.
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