April is set to be defining in Arsenal’s season, and they got off to the perfect start with a professional 2-0 win over Luton at Emirates Stadium
Mikel Arteta opted to use the opportunity to rotate his side. Making five changes from the team that drew 0-0 at Manchester City on Sunday. Reiss Nelson made his first Premier League start in almost four years, whilst Emile Smith Rowe, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey and Leandro Trossard all started.
Arsenal started well, with almost all of the play in the opening stages being played in the Luton half. However Arsenal couldn’t quite force a proper chance against their visitors. However, the deadlock was broken midway through the first half as Smtih Rowe won possession in midfield and played the ball forward to Kai Havertz, the German then played the ball across to Martin Odegaard who struck hard and low into the corner to make it 1-0 and give Arsenal the crucial first goal they needed.
Smith Rowe, who was enjoying a fine display, almost made it two when his close-range effort was saved by Kaminski. In the final minutes of the half, the Hale End graduate then collected the ball in the box following a pass from Trossard, and his ball across the face of the penalty area was turned into the Luton net by Daiki Hashioka for an own-goal for the lead to be doubled right on half-time for Arsenal.
The second half was played at a slightly lower tempo as Mikel Arteta’s side were clearly attempting to not use much energy with seven games in April still to come. Eddie Nketiah came on and fired an effort on target which was well saved by Kaminski, and at the other end David Raya remained mainly unchallenged.
Despite not really threatening the Luton goal, Arsenal comfortably saw out the game which by the end somewhat resembled a training session, the game eventually concluded and Arsenal ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.
A trip to the Amex awaits the Gunners as a tough month continues to test their squad.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 7 – Nothing to do save-wise but distribution was solid and got another clean sheet
Ben White: 7 – Solid all afternoon
William Saliba: 7 – Very composed, mostly unchallenged
Gabriel: 7 – Solid as usual
Oleksandr Zinchenko: 6 – Saw a lot of the ball but often did cheaply give it away
Thomas Partey: 7 – A strong return to the starting XI
Martin Odegaard: 8 – Scored the opener which he finished superbly
Emile Smith Rowe: 8 – Was great on and off the ball and was heavily involved in both goals
Reiss Nelson: 6 – Wasn’t bad but often played it too safe and slowed play down
Kai Havertz: 7 – Did well winning his duels and got an assist too
Leandro Trossard: 6 – Did some nice twists and turns but didn’t get too involved