Arsenal managed to grind out their first win under Unai Emery on Saturday, coming from behind to win 3-1 against West Ham United.
It wasn’t Arsenal’s most convincing performance overall, with periods of the match where they looked vulnerable, and a sense they were missing chief creator Mesut Özil. Nonetheless, the result was all that really mattered on this occasion, after defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City.
Let’s have a look at the individual ratings for each player:
4Substitutes
Alexandre Lacazette 8.5
Lacazette came on and changed the game for Arsenal. With Aubameyang struggling to hold up the ball on his own, Lacazette came on and showed him how it’s done, linking up with the players around him (Aubameyang included) very effectively.
The Gunners were a lot more dangerous as a result, and it was the Frenchman’s cross that West Ham turned in to their own net to put Arsenal ahead.
Lucas Torreira 8.5
Just like Lacazette, Torreira showed what Arsenal are missing by leaving him on the bench. He formed an effective partnership with Xhaka, and played a couple of impressive direct passes through the West Ham defence immediately after entering the fray. It would be bizarre not to see Torreira and Lacazette getting a chance against Cardiff now.
Danny Welbeck 8
Welbeck’s overall game may not have caught the eye quite as much as Torreira’s or Lacazette’s, but he took his one chance impressively to become the first Arsenal striker to score this season. The Englishman faces a battle for minutes in 2018/19, and it looks like he’s up for the fight.