8/10 Arsenal star just showed he can save KSE millions

Well, last night wasn’t the most interesting football game, but Arsenal finally got the job done.

Mikel Arteta the side knew that victory against Dinamo Zagreb would everything except the warranty for them passage into Champions League round of 16, and played a comfortable 3-0 victory.

There were some impressive performances from the hosts, such as Jorginho, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard, who finally hit the net.

However, two stood out above the rest: Declan Rice and another starter, who has shown he can save Kroenke a lot of money this month.

Declan Rice’s match against Zagreb

The past few weeks have seen Rice return to what was close to his best last season, and last night was one of his best displays of the campaign.

It took less than two minutes for the Englishman to open the scoring for the hosts, catching the ball on the half-volley as if he were a world-class centre-forward.

Now, he should have added a second in the second half, but that doesn’t diminish his effectiveness as a left eight in both attack and defense.

We’re not the only ones left seriously impressed with the former West Ham United captain, like football.london Tom Canton gave it a rating of 8/10 at full-time, writing that it was yet another “dominant midfield display” from the midfield machine.

Not surprisingly, the 26-year-old’s statistics from the match more than confirm the praise, as in 93 minuteshe had a combined goal and assist expected score of 0.82, took 62 touches, maintained a 91% pass accuracy, played one key pass, took four shots, won 100% of his ground duels, made one clearance, blocked two shots and he made two tackles in addition.

All in all, it was a brilliant performance from the Gunners’ £105million man, but he wasn’t the only regular to grab the headlines, as Kai Havertz put up a screen that could save the club millions.

Kai Havertz’s match against Zagreb

Yes, it’s about Havertz, who after a terrible few weeks in which his place in the team was seriously in doubt, played another strong game last night at the Emirates.

The Germany international made his few, now common, errors in the penalty area, such as holding onto the ball too long at times, but overall, he showed that he could be the man to lead the line for the North Londoners this season.

For example, the “magnificent” striker, as they call him talent hunter Jacek Kuligit was he who stopped the ball and cushioned it just right to give Rice the lead in the first two minutes, but he wasn’t done there.

In the second half, when the team needed to extend their lead, the 25-year-old dynamo rose to meet Gabriel Martinelli’s excellent pass and did just that, helping to calm any nerves that may have been creeping in due to Saturday’s game.

Unsurprisingly, Canton was equally impressed with the former Chelsea player, awarding it another 8/10 evening and wrote that he had ‘perfect control’ of the ball for the team’s start.

Now, should this be the start of the Aachen-born striker’s scoring streak, the club’s powers that be could decide not to sign a new striker this month and invest in another team instead, but whether that would be a wise decision is a debate for another time.

Ultimately, Arsenal’s performance wasn’t amazing, but a comfortable and professional one that saw them emerge as deserved winners, hopefully with some momentum going into the rest of the season.