Arsenal and Mikel Arteta had come off of a tough week ahead of their match at home to Sevilla. Two away matches at West Ham and Newcastle had seen two defeats amid controversy regarding the refereeing. However, The Gunners returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 victory over their Spanish opponents.
The Arsenal lineup saw one change from the defeat on Tyneside, with an ankle injury for Eddie Nketiah seeing Leandro Trossard lead the line upfront. The Gunners knew they needed a win and started well with Kai Havertz heading wide from a corner in the opening minutes.
Immediately it became clear that Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka – who had been far from their best at Newcastle – were up for the test. Martinelli in particular seemed in the mood as he burst past the Sevilla right-back Jorge Sanchez on multiple occasions.
And Arsenal’s dominance was rewarded midway through the first half as a brilliant defence splitting pass from Jorginho saw Saka in behind, the young winger squared the ball to Trossard who had the simple task of slotting home from close range. The goal was brilliantly created and showed the sheer control Arsenal held over the match with Sevilla powerless to stop them.
The second half saw similar action with most of the play being in the Sevilla half. Kai Havertz came close with a whipped effort from the edge of the penalty area and Oleksandr Zinchenko hit a volley which needed saving from the Sevilla goalkeeper. The Ukrainian had been substituted on at half time for Takehiro Tomiyasu as the Japanese defender appeared to pick up a slight knock.
Arsenal needed a second goal to kill the game and that’s exactly what they got on the 65th minute when a Martinelli pass saw Saka run in on goal, appearing to have taken the ball wide he then cut inside onto his left foot and finished confidently and calmly to double Arsenal’s lead in what was a killer blow to the team from Southern Spain.
Mikel Arteta’s side remained unchallenged in their defensive third until the 96th minute when an effort was hit straight at David Raya. The full time whistle blew soon after confirming the win and Arteta will be hoping his side can make it two wins in a row when Burnley come to the Emirates.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 7 – Another clean sheet
Ben White: 7 – Solid as per usual
William Saliba: 8 – Brilliant again. Made one fantastic last-ditch challenge in the first half
Gabriel: 7 – Barely troubled at all
Takehiro Tomiyasu: 6 – Ok before being subbed at HT
Jorginho: 7 – Played the pass of the match for the first goal
Kai Havertz: 7 – Similar to his performance at Newcastle. Looks more at home at RCM
Declan Rice: 8 – Another game, another class Rice performance
Bukayo Saka: 8 – One goal, one assist, back to his best
Leandro Trossard: 8 – Opened the scoring and linked play well throughout
Gabriel Martinelli: 8 – Got an assist and assured the Sevilla defenders will be having nightmares for weeks