Arsenal put in a professional display to win 3-0 away in Östersund on Thursday night.

Although the team never really hit top gear, a couple of individual performances shone through.

David Ospina and Mesut Özil were the stars as Arsenal made sure they can take it easy in the return leg next week.

Defence

David Ospina  9

It’s hard to argue with any part of Ospina’s performance on Thursday night. He made five saves, including an acrobatic effort in the first half, and a penalty save in the second. That penalty stop was Arsenal’s first in normal play since 2014.

The Colombian also distributed the ball well, completing 83% of his attempted passes.

A strong all round performance and a first clean sheet in over a month for the team.

Hector Bellerin  6.5

Bellerin had a mixed game. He was generally good on the ball, completing most of his passes and four of his five dribbles.

On the other hand, he was dispossessed more than any other Arsenal defender. Plus, at the end of the game he gave away a penalty with a rash challenge.

Still a bit to work on for next week.

Calum Chambers 7

Other than being dispossessed once, Chambers had a solid game.

He made four interceptions, three clearances, won 75% of his tackles and completed 95% of his passes.

He didn’t do anything spectacular at either end, but did his job.

Shkodran Mustafi 6

Mustafi was generally decent, but there are a couple of things in his performances that are starting to become problematic.

Firstly, his insistence on diving in for everything could easily have led to a penalty for Östersund in the first half. Luckily, the referee let him off this time.

The other issue for him is the ill-advised risky passes. A few times in every game he’ll randomly fire the ball up-field, almost always resulting in nothing other than losing possession.

Then in his defensive third, he puts other players under pressure from time to time.

It was his pass, fired into Maitland-Niles when the midfielder was completely surrounded, that led to Arsenal losing the ball and giving away a penalty.

I really don’t want to see centre-backs taking as many risks as Mustafi does, it’s not worth it.

Nacho Monreal 8

We joked after the Crystal Palace match that Monreal could replace Alexis Sanchez, but the Spaniard really can’t stop getting involved in the goals since the Chilean’s departure.

In his last six matches, the 31-year-old has three goals and two assists. With all his early substitutions, that’s a goal contribution every 84.4 minutes.

His latest effort against Östersund opened the scoring early on and set the tone for the match.

After that he was solid until Wenger took him off.

Long may this good form continue!

Next, midfield…

Midfield

Mohamed Elneny 7

This was a standard Elneny performance.

Off the ball, he made a couple of interceptions, but otherwise just held his position well. In possession, he completed 97% of his passes, and saw the ball more than anybody else on the pitch.

He only created one chance with all that possession, but then playing the final ball isn’t really his game.

He did his job.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 7.5

Arsene Wenger said after the game that “80 per cent” of Maitland-Niles’ game was good, and I think that’s fair.

He also completed over 90% of his passes, and created one chance. He was far more impressive with his ball recoveries, winning it back 18 times.

Unfortunately he also got caught in possession a few times, including for the penalty. That’s the area he needs to work on.

Mesut Özil 9

Arsenal’s other star on the night, Özil made the match look easy.

Every dribble he attempted was successful, and he created three great chances for his teammates. One of those chances, a pass back to Mkhitaryan, should really have resulted in a penalty when the keeper took him out.

It didn’t matter, as Monreal scored moments later.

In the second half, he added the cherry on top of his game with a goal, controlling a fast low cross well and finishing confidently.

The away fans clearly enjoyed the show, and sung his name repeatedly.

Next, forwards…

Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 8

Mkhitaryan was the focal point of Arsenal’s attacks in the first half.

By the break, he had taken six shots, and was very unlucky not to have a goal.

In the second period he put his creative hat on and set up Özil for 3-0.

He lost possession a couple of times, but otherwise it was a return to the form he showed at the Emirates against Everton.

Alex Iwobi 7.5

Iwobi never seems to get the credit he deserves when things go right.

He wasn’t Arsenal’s best performer on the night, but you can see the other players benefit from his presence on the pitch.

He links up the attacks well, and makes good runs off the ball. It was his shot that Monreal turned in on the rebound.

Danny Welbeck 5.5

Welbeck looked very shaky in front of goal, and snatched at his chances, or didn’t take the shot at all.

In his defence, he made a few opportunities for his teammates, but didn’t threaten Östersund himself at all.

Hopefully he was just out of practice, and we’ll see more from him next week.

Next, subs…

Substitutes

Sead Kolasinac 5

Kolasinac played the final 17 minutes, and didn’t have a large amount to do. He won a couple of tackles, and looked threatening, but played a couple of stray passes.

Eddie Nketiah 6

By the time Nketiah came on, the team were more focused on keeping a clean sheet than adding to the goals.

He was the only player to complete all of his passes, but he only made four.

With any luck he’ll get more of a chance next week.

Reiss Nelson NA

Nelson looked lively, but only played five minutes, and couldn’t make much happen.

Again, he was held back by the fact the team didn’t really really have much offensive ambition by that stage.