It was always going to be an interesting game as these two sides met at the Westfalenstadion, with both teams in fine form domestically.
This was the second part of the biggest test of three Arsenal will have faced so far this season, having already overcome Liverpool, now seeing off Dortmund, with an exciting encounter with Manchester United coming up on the weekend.
After an exciting end-to-end all action match, who else but the on form Aaron Ramsey to nod in what was to be the decisive goal in the 62nd minute.
Wojciech Szczesny – 7 – A mixed bag of performances this season, may have had some Arsenal fans nervous about how our keeper would fair tonight against his fellow Pole Robert Lewandowski and Dortmund tonight.
Although Szczesny wasn’t particularly tested on the night with Dortmund only having 3 attempts on target, he played very maturely, making no mistakes and keeping a clean sheet; something which isn’t easy against such a strong Dortmund side at home.
Bacary Sagna – 8 – Another outstanding performance from our French right-back. An all-round good game, solid, no nonsense defending with some crucial clearances, matched with a great attacking intent down the right hand side of the pitch all night, providing Ozil with some much needed support against Marcel Schmelzer.
Per Mertesacker – 8 – A natural leader in the heart of the defence tonight for Arsenal, he and Koscielny worked well as they have done all season to keep the target man Lewandowski quiet; which they did so, effectively.
Controlling the defence and providing an outlet for Szczesny when needed, Mertesacker played with complete concentration all night knowing a job had to be done. Solid performance.
Laurent Koscielny – 8 – It’s becoming a habit for the French centre-back to perform well as he done so tonight. Showing terrific pace when returning from an Arsenal attack to prevent a Dortmund counter attack, Koscielny worked well once again with Mertesacker and played his part in shutting Dortmund out. With some last ditch slide tackles and some solid defending, it truly was another outstanding performance.
Kieran Gibbs – 7 – The only English representative in tonight’s game and fighting for a place in the World Cup squad, tonight’s performance will have only increased his chances.
He didn’t get forward as much as Sagna tonight but showed terrific composure in a number of defensive situations.
Some key slide tackles in the first half, following some blistering pace from the left-back, he played a pivotal role in keeping Dortmund quiet down the right-hand side to prevent crosses into the box.
Mikel Arteta – 7 – Done his best to break up play as much as he could tonight; a vital role in the team, especially without the injured Mathieu Flamini due to a groin problem.
He picked up an early yellow card in the 22nd minute and was clearly getting frustrated with some of the refereeing decisions.
It was clear that Wenger had a word with his captain at half time, and Arteta played the second half a lot more calm, doing well to make some clean tackles and prevent some Dortmund attacks.
Aaron Ramsey - 7 – Wasn’t as influential tonight as he has been in previous games for Arsenal this season and didn’t see as much of the ball as he may be used to.
However, the man of the moment picked up after a slow start to continue his fine goal scoring form this season and head in what was to be the decisive goal in the game in the 62nd minute. Battled well all night and showed great strength to hold of Subotic for the goal.
Santi Cazorla – 7 – The little Spaniard tried hard to create chances for Arsenal tonight and did well with his passing having completed 87% of passes attempted. He managed to have 53 touches of the ball in the 75’ he played but didn’t manage to set-up any real goal scoring opportunities for Arsenal. A good contribution from Cazorla nevertheless.
Mesut Ozil – 7 – A good performance from the record signing tonight, back in his native country Germany. Completing 71% of his passes and 4 of his dribbles, Ozil played with lots of attacking intent. Some clever footwork to beat Schmelzer a few times got him into some great attacking positions.
We should not also forget that it was Ozil that provided the cross for Giroud to header down to Ramsey for the Welshman’s goal.
Tomas Rosicky – 7 – Playing against his former club, Rosicky had a good return to where he played for 5 years. He played with lots of attacking intent in the first half, doing well and showing great pace to dribble away from Marco Reus and eventually drawing a foul.
The Arsenal midfielder was drowned out a little in the second half and found it difficult to get into any threatening positions.
Having also committed 3 fouls, Rosicky may have also been lucky to escape the book.
Olivier Giroud – 7 – There is no doubt that the Striker found it hard tonight as the lone striker and looked at times like he could have done with some extra support upfront.
Having said that, he showed great strength throughout the night to hold off Subotic and played like a target man should.
He made well on his chances and let’s not forget it was he who nodded the ball down for Ramsey to head home – getting himself an assist on the night.
SUBS
Nacho Monreal – 6 – Was brought on in the 75th minute after Arsenal went 1-0 up to provide Kieran Gibbs with some support for Dortmund sub Aubameyang. Didn’t have much influence on the game but done well to provide the support the Gibbs needed.
Thomas Vermaelen – N/A – Came on with 3 minutes to go to help shut up shop.
Nicklas Bendtner – N/A – Came on late to provide Giroud with some well-deserved rest. Very little influence on proceedings.
Having overcome last season’s Champions League runners up in their own back yard and getting revenge for the 2-1 defeat at the Emirates, this was a bitter sweet victory for Arsenal and a very important one at that.
It takes us one step closer to qualifying in the ‘group of death’ and also goes a little way to silencing some of those critics.
It is still too early to say what will happen yet, but after a promising performance like tonight, there is no reason for Arsenal fans not to be optimistic about the season ahead.
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