Saka Shines Through In Stunning Spectacle of Scoring

Arsenal returned after a 1 week break to take on Watford at Vicarage Road. With spectacular strikes featuring throughout the fixture, Arsenal’s attacked managed to outweigh their dull defense and take home the 3 points in a 3-2 win. So how did the team do individually?

Mikel Arteta – 8

A win is a win – doesn’t matter how you get it. Certain players in the team seemed slightly shabby on the pitch but that comes down to them – Arteta did his job in putting forward an effective gameplan and lineup. No complaints there.

Aaron Ramsdale – 6.5

Although it was an Arsenal win, Ramsdale had possibly his poorest performance for the Gunners. He didn’t have any big saves to make and ended up conceding three times – only two of which were legal. His distribution was especially poor in this game, with the former Sheffield United keeper waving off an easy option to go for a harder pass which was eventually intercepted.

Cedric – 7.5

Cedric was brilliant on offense – he added to the attack efficiently but also gave Saka sufficient space to go to work on the wing, Defensively, however, the whole unit was poor, resulting in a slight deduction of rating points for all defenders.

Gabriel – 7

Nothing special from Gabriel in this game. He did what he could on defence, however conceding twice isn’t a good defensive showing. He was efficient in possession on the other hand.

Benjamin White – 6.5

Ben White started slow, finding himself extremely lucky that Watford’s early goal was narrowly ruled as offside. The ball came down his side of the defence a bit too easily for my liking at times but in spite of this he was comfortable on the ball when he had it.

Kieran Tierney – 6

Not a great performance from Tierney at all. Watford constantly managed to overload and exploit the left hand side of the defence, becoming evident in how easily the cross for Cucho Hernandez’s amazing bicycle kick got into the box. The Scotsman didn’t offer much on the other side of the ball either – in his defence, the team did do the majority of its attacking on the other wing.

Granit Xhaka – 7.5

Xhaka was a silent achiever in this game. He went about his business quietly, completing his duties well throughout the entirety of the fixture. His only major fault during the 90 minutes was opting not to help cover Tierney on the left hand side in the lead up to Watford’s first goal (that really should be Tierney’s job though as Martinelli was marking the man on the ball).

Thomas Partey – 8.5

Thomas Partey deserves a lot of respect at this current point in time. For the majority of his career at Arsenal he has put up average performances in the middle of the park, slotting in a good performance here and there and always sending in the long shots. Recently, we have seen a completely different player. Partey is an immense presence in the midfield now. He intercepts passes and disrupts the opposition play frequently, he drops in to find the ball much more now and is highly efficient in possession. What is most encouraging to see as an Arsenal fan is that he is stringing these high-quality performances together.

Martin Odegaard – 9

To think that we sold Joe Willock for £25m and bought Martin Odegaard for just under £30m is outrageous. No hate to Willock at all – the academy graduate did brilliantly on loan, scoring 7 in 7 games from midfield – but it is just an excellent piece of business. The Norwegian does not stop running all game, possibly the most amazing thing being that his quality of play does not fall off either. His goal in this game was simply stunning: a sumptuous flick to complete a 1-2 to Saka, following up with a brilliant touch and calm finish to slot home Arsenal’s first. Throughout the rest of the game, everything went through Odegaard in the attack (as always). I mean, in all honesty, what’s not there to love about this guy?

Bukayo Saka – 9.5

I have no idea why this man’s nickname is Chilli, but if the way he burnt the Watford defence today is anything to go by then I don’t doubt the name one bit. He was simply electrifying today. A goal and an assist to his name doesn’t really do the way he played justice – every time he touched the ball he looked dangerous and you’d get the feeling that something good was going to happen. 100% final third pass accuracy, 100% chance conversion, 96% pass accuracy overall, 31 touches, 75% duels won, 2 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 shot, 1 chance created, 1 goal and 1 assist – not to mention he was the sole start of Martinelli’s goal, which would turn out to be the winner. He is now the youngest player since Cesc Fabregas (20y 141d) in 2007 to score 20 goals in all competitions for Arsenal (20 182d). Simply stunning.

Gabriel Martinelli – 8.5

In the first half, practically all of the play came down the right hand side of the Arsenal team. With that being said, when the chance came calling, Martinelli made sure to pick up the phone. A brilliant finish, hitting the top corner when the ball was dropped down to him from Lacazette. He stayed ready and dangerous throughout the rest of the game, with his only fault being his lacklustre defending at times.

Alexandre Lacazette – 8.5

I can’t lie here – I’ve given Lacazette an immense amount of stick. Today, however, he was brilliant. He did everything that could have been asked of him as a target man. He linked up the play well and was perfect in holding the ball and laying it off to a teammate, earning him two simple yet terrific assists in the game. If he can do that for the rest of the season, you will hear no complaints from me.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

Nicolas Pepe – 6

Didn’t make much of an impact since coming on.

Eddie Nketiah – 6

Came on but the team soon switched to a defensive mindset, denying him the chance to properly make an impact.

Rob Holding – 6.5

The closer of games – Holding gets subbed on, 3 points secured. Simple as that.

MAN OF THE MATCH:

Bukayo Saka – 9.5

The footage speaks for itself.