Arsenal came from behind to win 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against Valencia on Thursday, putting them in a good position ahead of the reverse fixture in Spain.

Unai Emery’s side got off to the worst possible start as Mouctar Diakhaby headed home an early away goal to give Valencia the lead. It only took seven minutes for the Gunners to draw level though, after good work by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Alexandre Lacazette the chance to put away a tap in.

Lacazette then scored a second eight minutes later with a strong header, before Aubameyang added a potentially-vital third late on.

Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match.

Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs

Petr Cech 7

There was nothing much Cech could’ve done about the goal, but he did make a couple of very important saves after that. Two or three away goals would have left Arsenal in a terrible position, so that was crucial. His distribution wasn’t so impressive.

Laurent Koscielny 7

Koscielny looked rather laboured throughout the match, despite being rested at the weekend. He still put in a solid enough performance overall, but he never looked completely on top of things. The 33-year-old did play a number of nice long passes to help move Arsenal forward though.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos 7.5

Sokratis looked up for the physical side of the game, especially when he had to make a couple of last-man challenges to stop Valencia getting in on goal. He did get dribbled past once, which was once more than either of his centre-back partners. Still, it was a much-improved performance on his last two Premier League appearances.

Shkodran Mustafi 8

Credit where it’s due, Mustafi was Arsenal’s best defender on the night. The German doesn’t often get much praise for his defensive work, but this was one occasion where he got most things right.

Up against his former club, Mustafi made some important tackles, interceptions and clearances, as well as winning a couple of aerial duels. His work in possession wasn’t quite so impressive, with the second-lowest pass accuracy of any outfield Arsenal player.

Midfield and Wing-Backs

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8

Maitland-Niles was pretty much the only player on the team willing to take opponents on and drive forwards. His five dribbles completed was more than the rest of the team managed combined, and it got him in behind the defence on a few different occasions to create a couple of good chances.

The one stain on Maitland-Niles’ performance was his attempted headed backpass, which went straight to a Valencia man. As long as he learns from that moment, everything else was positive.

Matteo Guendouzi 5

Guendouzi’s passing was nice enough, but it wasn’t particularly searching, and there was nothing else to his game. He only attempted one cross (which didn’t find its target), he didn’t create any chances, he didn’t complete any dribbles and he lost five out of his six individual duels. It was a pretty anonymous performance before his early substitution.

Granit Xhaka 6

Xhaka had his moments, setting up the second goal and making a few good tackles. His passing wasn’t at its usual high standard, as he struggled to maintain accuracy when he played it forward in central areas, and only played a few long balls all game. He was also dribbled past more than any other Arsenal player and had one truly terrible shot late on.

On the other hand, he also created more chances than any of the others and was particularly effective with his crosses, so it was a mixed bag overall.

Sead Kolasinac 6.5

Kolasinac’s final ball continues to perplex supporters. He got into dangerous areas on a number of occasions throughout the match and hit the first man or cleared the entire pitch pretty much every time. Then, he suddenly found a perfect cross to Aubameyang right at the end to create Arsenal’s third goal.

The 25-year-old wasn’t Arsenal’s most effective player defensively either, but he was very good in the air. Like Xhaka, this was another mixed performance.

Front Three

Mesut Özil 7

Özil kept Arsenal ticking over in possession as he always does, but he also worked hard for the team, making a couple of tackles and winning four of his five individual duels. He wasn’t at his best creatively, failing to make a chance for once, but that wasn’t a big problem as his passing and runs still helped teammates create plenty.

Alexandre Lacazette 8.5

Lacazette started excellently, scoring a couple of early goals to snatch the lead away from Valencia and linking up well with his teammates. It’s no surprise to see him stepping up in another big game, after his previous contributions to goals against Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Napoli this season.

He should’ve scored a third in the second half when through on the goalkeeper, but other than that it was a complete centre-forward performance from the Arsenal man. He won the joint-most aerials of any Arsenal player, made tackles and clearances, created chances and was consistently a threat to Valencia.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8.5

Similarly, Aubameyang stepped up his game to drag Arsenal into a strong position ahead of the second leg. The first goal was as much down to his pace and decision-making as Lacazette’s excellent through ball to create the opportunity. The third was a much tougher finish than it looked, as he took the shot on from a very tight angle.

The striker created a couple of great chances and closed Valencia down well all night, so he was certainly willing to do more for the team than just finish opportunities, despite the accusations sometimes levelled at him.

Substitutes

Lucas Torreira 6

Torreira came on for Guendouzi and offered a little more in terms of pressing Valencia higher up the field, but other than that it was a fairly similar performance to the Frenchman’s. His passing was accurate, he won a couple of duels, but he didn’t create any chances, make any tackles or interceptions.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 6

Mkhitaryan was slightly more effective on this occasion than he has been recently, driving Arsenal forward on one occasion in the play that eventually led to the third goal. Other than that he made a few passes and played one nice cross-field ball, but not much else.

Nacho Monreal N/A

Monreal mostly only came on to allow Koscielny the chance to rest. He wasn’t even involved enough to earn a rating, only making seven touches in total.