Arsenal kept their impressive win going with a 4-1 win in what we discovered on Friday would be Arsene Wenger’s final London derby, against West Ham.
Arsenal struggled to break down the Hammers at first, and it took until the 51st minute for Nacho Monreal to open the scoring. Just as the fans were starting to enjoy themselves, Marko Arnautovic scored an equaliser.
The usual frustration started to build, until the team eventually opened the floodgates and scored three goals in the final 10 minutes to win the match.
So how did the players do individually?
2Midfield
Mohamed Elneny 6
Elneny made a fair start to the match, but injury forced him off before half-time. Fortunately, it doesn’t initially look like he’ll be out for very long, but he won’t play a part in the first-leg against Atletico Madrid.
Granit Xhaka 8.5
Xhaka pulled the strings for the entire 90 minutes, racking up a huge 12.4% share of the total possession in the match. The next closest player was Koscielny, with 6.8%. The Swiss midfielder was constantly on the ball, setting up the plays effectively. He also shielded the defence well, as he is often accused of failing to do.
Eventually his hard work was rewarded with an assist for the opening goal of the game. If we see this late season Xhaka all year in 2018/19, Arsenal will benefit enormously.
Aaron Ramsey 9
Ramsey’s amazing individual season continued on Sunday with yet another goal and assist. He is now in double figures for both this season, despite only playing 26 matches, and playing in midfield. He looked confident against West Ham, expertly dribbling past the defence on multiple occasions, the final of which allowed him to set up Lacazette.
Ramsey is another player who has particularly stepped up since January. Now he just needs to lead the side to Europa League glory.