Our first pre-season match is behind us, how did our players do?

Since it’s pre-season, it’s natural to have a lot of subs and Arsenal made eight of them. Naturally, it’s also hard to rate a player after only a half time or even only 10 minutes, but here are some thoughts about the 19 players (!!) that we got to see tonight.

Emi Martinez – 6

Emi played first half and did okay. He made a few decent saves, including right before the goal that sadly fell right on one of Lens’ player’s feet.

Mathieu Debuchy – 6.5

Almost gave him a 7 but had to take half a point due to yellow card. Debuchy was easily our best player in first half with some very good forward passes.

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Arsenal’s french defender Mathieu Debuchy (R) vies with French Lens’s forward Pablo Chavarria during the football match Lens vs Arsenal on July 22 2016, at the Felix Bollaert stadium in Lens. (DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty Images)

Per Mertesacker – 6

Once again, the only thing Per did wrong today was something he can’t fix – he was too slow a few times. Other than that, okay.

Calum Chambers – 6

Chambers is to blame for only goal we conceded, a really bad header he then repeated in the second half as well but it didn’t end in a goal. He did look much better in second half when he was moved to the right-back position.

Nacho Monreal – 6

Nacho didn’t do much, didn’t have to, but it was nice to see him again.

Mohamed Elneny – 6

Also didn’t have to do much defensively. He had a shot but it went far above the goal.

Francis Coquelin – 6

Coquelin was being Coquelin – tackling like it’s a crucial match in the middle of the season. He didn’t get a card so that’s a good thing…

Theo Walcott – 6

Theo was involved in all our attacks, although his decisions were poor most of the time. He managed to score but it was offside.

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Arsenal’s English forward Theo Walcott (L) vies with French Lens’s defender Abdoul Ba during the football match Lens versus Arsenal on July 22 2016, at the Felix Bollaert stadium in Lens. (DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty Images)

Alex Iwobi – 6

Alex did okay in first half, nothing much in second half.

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Arsenal’s Nigerian forward Alex Iwobi (L) vies with French Lens’s forward Deme Ndiaye during the football match Lens versus Arsenal on July 22 2016, at the Felix Bollaert stadium in Lens. (DENIS CHARLET/AFP/Getty Images)

Jeff Reine-Adelaide – 6.5

Jeff was looking decent, and him, Iwobi and Akpom played some nice passes. He had a great shot on goal that went just wide.

Chuba Akpom – 6.5

Chuba had our first shot on target for this season, although the goal keeper saved it. He had a few more chances as well, but no goal for him.


Macey – 6.5

Matt looked really good in goal in his first senior appearance for Arsenal, he made one amazing save with tips of his fingers.

Bielik – 6

Bielik was just okay, had some bad reactions and misplaced passes.

Gibbs – 6

Gibbs didn’t have to do much but looked sharp.

Campbell – 7

Joel once again showed how much he loves and wants to play. Really good upfront with some chances created.

Gnabry – 6.5

Serge looked good overall, always joining in the attacks, but his best move was the assist for the Ox.

Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7

Ox scored the only goal for Arsenal and what a goal it was – a cheeky chip over the goal keeper. He was good overall as well, great pace.

Chris Willock – 6

Chris got to play only 10 minutes, but he showed off some great skills, exciting prospect indeed.

Gedion Zelalem – 6

Same as Willock, only got 10 minutes but looked good during that time.