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.
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.