Despite all the odds, Arsenal managed to finish second.
The match itself was more of the same. Lots of passing without much final product. We over-passed and seems lacking in confidence in the final third. Despite our early pressure and resulting goal, it didn’t feel safe.
Thankfully, in the final quarter of an hour, we seemed to remember we were playing a relegated team and Giroud completed a hat-trick before Mikel Arteta came on to score his final Arsenal goal.
Petr Cech – 8
Despite Villa getting forward a couple of times, the goalkeeper didn’t have a lot to do.
Hector Bellerin – 6.5
The right-back put in some dodgy challenges but overall strong.
Gabriel – 5.5
The Brazilian was poor, again.
Laurent Koscielny – 7
Not long after we scored, Villa found a weak spot but luckily Kos was there to clean up the mess and prevent a shot on goal.
Nacho Monreal – 7.5
The full-back grabbed an early assist for Giroud’s goal in the fifth minute.
Francis Coquelin – 6
The midfielder’s return to the starting lineup was so-so for the Gunners.
Jack Wilshere – 6
It was the midfielder’s first start this season after being out through injury and he was solid, he even could have scored in the first half. It was a bit nervy watching him going in for challenges but I suspect we’ll be like that for the duration of the Euros.
Santi Cazorla – 7
Having our little maestro back in the middle of the pitch dictating play made such a difference to our ability to hold onto the ball. We’ve really missed him.
Mesut Ozil – 7
The German put in some fantastic passes, as usual, but seems to have fallen back into the old habit of trying to overpass and not shooting when he should.
Alexis Sachez – 7
The forward was fantastic. He was creative yet methodical and had Lyden on toast, as they say. Hopefully, we don’t lose him this summer.
Olivier Giroud – 10
The striker scored a hat-trick! The Frenchman seems to be hitting form against going into the Euros this summer.
SUBS
Mohamed Elneny – 5
He could have scored but fluffed it. Still, solid performance.
Mikel Arteta – 11
It was Mikel’s last game in an Arsenal shirt and boy did he go out in style, scoring a fourth goal and lifting the roof off the Emirates.
