Arsenal shook off a comeback scare to progress to the Europa League semi-finals with a 2-2 draw against CSKA Moscow on Thursday night.
A few hundred Arsenal fans navigated all the hurdles associated with a match in Russia, and at first it looked like they would end up returning home disappointed. In fact, after taking a 2-0 lead CSKA were just inches away from making it three and going ahead on away goals.
Fortunately, the tie turned after the first substitutions, and Arsenal ended up with a comfortable looking 6-3 scoreline on aggregate. The performance wasn’t nearly as impressive as the final result looks though.
So how did the players do individually?
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Mesut Özil 6
This was far from Özil’s best game in an Arsenal shirt, yet he still created four chances -more than anybody else – and should’ve had at least one assist. The fact he continues to make things happen even when he’s not at his best is what makes him such a top class player.
Danny Welbeck 7.5
I thought Welbeck struggled to get into the game for a while, and that’s reflected in the fact he saw less of the ball than any Arsenal player who completed the full 90 minutes.
However, when it really mattered and the game was on the line, he came up with a lovely turn, an intelligent one-two and a composed finish. He also contributed defensively a lot more than his English teammate.
In the end, he did exactly what the team needed him to do, and it’s largely thanks to him that they’re in the semi-final draw on Friday.
Alexandre Lacazette 5.5
Lacazette was a bit unlucky on this occasion. Arsenal spent most of the match defending, and couldn’t put two passes together when they had the chance to counter. Then when Welbeck’s goal put them back on the front foot, Lacazette went off for Alex Iwobi.
It’s hard to judge the Frenchman on a match where he was hardly involved, but perhaps he needed to force his way in a bit more.