Arteta must drop Arsenal flop

After the weekend’s defeat in the Premier League, what Arsenal really needed in the Champions League on Wednesday night was a straightforward victory.

Fortunately for Mikel Arteta’s men, that’s exactly what they got, brushing aside Belgian club Brugge 3-0 with relative ease.

The Gunners were at their best in the final third, notably scoring two outstanding goals through Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke.

This was a team that changed a lot as Arteta opted to rotate and many in the red and white in midweek claimed more regular opportunities.

Arsenal’s best players against Club Brugge

It was a fantastic evening for the Arsenal wingers. With Leandro Trossard injured and Bukayo Saka part of the team rested on the bench, this meant Martinelli and Madueke starting on the left and right flanks respectively.

Both players have struggled with injuries this season, but Martinelli, in particular, has made an impact almost every time he has played.

The Brazilian scored the third and final goal for the visiting team on Wednesday, a beauty from the edge of the area.

It was his fifth goal in his last five Champions League matches, the first player in Arsenal’s history to record such a statistic.

That said, his colleague on the opposite wing was even better. It was his best day in Arsenal colors.

Signed from Chelsea in the summer, every man and his dog seemed to wonder why on earth Andrea Berta and Co had brought Madueke to the Emirates Stadium. Well, it’s safe to say that he proved everyone wrong.

The Englishman scored his first goal for the club against Bayern Munich a few weeks ago and added two more this week.

His first was remotely torrid. The Arsenal winger broke away from his marker, headed towards the box then unleashed a fierce effort which crashed over the bar and found the net.

On the other hand, his second goal was as simple as possible. Martin Zubimendi’s cross from the left found Madueke who headed home from a few yards out.

There have been a number of real positives for Arsenal. It was great to see Gabriel Jesus back on the field for the first time after suffering an ACL injury in January.

Emergency centre-half Christian Norgaard also stood out at the back, part of a back line that kept a clean sheet.

With Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera and Jurrien Timber all missing through injury, this presented a rare opportunity for the Dane and he took it with aplomb, despite playing out of position.

That being said, it wasn’t the greatest of nights for another Arsenal summer signing.

Arsenal’s worst player against Club Brugge

It was an opportunity for those on the margins to assert their rights. Madueke, Martinelli and Norgaard all took their chances.

Viktor Gyokeres, on the other hand, did not. The question that arose after this match was: when do we start to worry about the Swede?

When Berta first arrived in north London, his priority task was to find a new striker who could score goals.

Well, it looked like he had acquired one of the best in Europe. This is a player who scored 54 times in 52 games last season for Sporting CP, but he has so far failed to translate that form into English football.

To be fair to him, he was largely deprived of service. Arsenal are struggling to create clear scoring chances and it was the same story against Brugge this week.

Gyokeres’ only chance of note came in the first half, but it was a half-chance at best, heading the ball straight into the goalkeeper’s arms with a few bodies competing for the same ball.

Gyokeres left the field with three shots to his name, but none of them were that remarkable, which seems to be a familiar trend from his time in north London so far.

That said, the Sweden international needs to do more. Even though he has just returned from injury, his 45-minute appearance against Aston Villa at the weekend, combined with his 60-odd minutes on Wednesday, was not enough.

He only had 12 touches of the ball in Belgium, 25 fewer than goalkeeper David Raya. Additionally, he only completed five passes.

There is a feeling that Gyokeres has significantly improved his hold-up play and ability to connect things at the top of this Arsenal team since signing from Sporting. However, he was brought to London to score goals and he just isn’t doing it regularly at the moment.

It’s only December. We shouldn’t completely write off the big-money striker before he’s had a full season. But right now, it doesn’t look great.

Arsenal have looked a much better team with Mikel Merino at number 9 and he would be expected to start against Wolves in that role on Saturday night ahead of Gyokeres.

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