Arsenal put in another good performance in their weekend victory over Watford, winning consecutive games for only the second time this calendar year.

Arsene Wenger needed another committed team performance to help keep confidence high ahead of Milan’s visit on Thursday, even if the league matches are essentially meaningless at this stage. That’s just what the players gave him, as Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners.

Here are our individual player ratings:

Defence

Petr Čech 8

Čech delivered a shot-stopping performance deserving of the 200th Premier League clean sheet milestone he reached on Sunday. He made a number of saves, including one from Troy Deeney’s penalty, ensuring a comfortable final half hour.

It wasn’t all good though. Čech’s distribution was dodgy again, and at one point he threw the ball into the ground next to him by accident. Also, his save from Richarlison’s free-kick fell right at the feet of Roberto Pereyra, and the goalkeeper was lucky to see the Watford man completely fluff his lines.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 7.5

Maitland-Niles was back at right-back for the first time in over a year with the senior side. He looked a lot more confident in the position, and earned praise from pundits for his ability to get up and down the pitch without being caught out defensively.

Unfortunately, he did give away a penalty, but there wasn’t much he could do to avoid contact. Other than that it was a very solid performance.

Shkodran Mustafi 8

Mustafi scored Arsenal’s opening goal and made the match a lot more comfortable than it otherwise might have been.

At the other end, he and Holding had the task of winning aerial duels against Deeney all day, and they did it very well. The English striker won less than half of his duels in the 90 minutes.

The German’s passing was the weakest of the back line, but still much better than in recent matches.

Rob Holding 7

As mentioned, Holding dealt with Deeney very well.

He had the third highest pass accuracy on the team, but he did make two very slack passes towards the end that almost let Watford in for a goal.

That would’ve been a shame after a generally positive performance.

Sead Kolašinac 7

As always, Kolašinac got into some great attacking positions throughout the match, but he couldn’t quite find the final ball.

If his low cross to Aubameyang had a little less pace on it, it was a certain goal.

Overall it was another decent if unspectacular showing from the Bosnian, who is having a bit of a revival after his mid-season lull.

Next, midfielders…

Midfield

Granit Xhaka 8.5

On the subject of revivals, Xhaka is putting together one of his own at the moment. The Swiss midfielder is finally showing his late 2016/17 form again, and he was excellent against Watford.

He won all his aerial duels and attempted tackles, completed 90% of his passes, and made a number of interceptions and clearances.

Even his trademark long shot actually hit the target for once.

Mohamed Elneny 9

Alongside Xhaka, Elneny was just as impressive, if not more so.

Often accused of playing safe sideways passes, the Egyptian silenced those critics by being positive with his possession all game, whilst still maintaining a massive 92% pass accuracy.

He also helped out at the other end, winning a couple of aerial duels and tackles.

It’s still going to be tough for Elneny to make Arsenal’s best XI, but he’s clearly a great player to have in the squad.

Mesut Özil 8

Özil got his 50th Premier League assist on Sunday, and created more chances than anyone else on the pitch.

He wasn’t quite at his brilliant best as he was at the San Siro, and he should’ve scored with his first-half chance, but he never shied away from the ball and continued to make things happen throughout.

Next, forwards…

Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 8.5

Fresh from his first Arsenal goal in Italy, Mkhitaryan scored his first league goal against Watford, and also provided a crucial assist to double Arsenal’s lead.

However, I think his defensive contributions deserve mentioning, because they’re going a little under the radar.

For some reason, many fans are under the impression the Armenian doesn’t help out defensively, but the complete opposite is true.

He consistently tracked back and won the ball, making more tackles and interceptions than the rest of the front four combined.

If he can keep this form and work-rate up he’ll make an excellent addition to the side.

Alex Iwobi 6

Arsenal fans are often too harsh on Iwobi, and his strengths go unnoticed.

On this occasion though, they were right to be disappointed with the 21-year-old’s showing.

He just never seemed to get going, and was probably glad to be the first player to come off in the end.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8.5

Aubameyang is starting to look like the striker we heard so much about at Dortmund, and it’s great to watch.

His link-up with Mkhitaryan is working wonders, as exemplified by their respective assists for each other. Arsenal are also benefiting from having a striker actually stick to his role up front rather than dropping deep.

The centre-forward could’ve done a bit better with his first half chance, but took his goal very nicely.

On another day his fantastic movement would’ve resulted in two or three.

Next, subs…

Substitutes

Danny Welbeck 7.5

Welbeck is another player who looks to be finding some confidence at last.

He was unlucky not to score with a powerful effort after making something of Wilshere’s slightly under-hit pass.

Hopefully he can show the same again on Thursday.

Calum Chambers 7

Chambers didn’t really have anything to do after coming on, which is probably a good thing.

The defender made an interception and a shot, so he did well with the little he was called upon for.

Jack Wilshere 7

Wilshere created one chance for Welbeck, but could’ve done a bit better from that situation.

The midfielder was also caught in possession once, something of a regular occurrence recently.

Otherwise he looked lively and completed all his passes. With any luck the rest will do him good for the Milan game.