Arsenal secured a convincing victory over Olympique Lyon in the opening game of the Dubai Super Cup this afternoon, and here are our player ratings.
Goals from Gabriel Magalhaes, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira – all in the first half – gave us a 3-0 victory. We won the penalty shootout as well.
Arsenal player ratings vs Lyon
Karl Hein: 10/10
With Aaron Ramsdale still at the World Cup and Matt Turner not back yet, Hein was given an opportunity in goal and he didn’t put a foot wrong. The Estonian had nothing to do in terms of shot-stopping, but his calmness and distribution really caught our eye. An absolutely incredible showing in the shootout as well.
RANKING EVERY WORLD CUP GROUP ACCORDING TO THE FIFA RANKINGS
Cedric Soares: 7.5/10
A very good display from the Portuguese international at right-back. He was solid at the back and helped Vieira out in attack too by bombing forward on the right flank. He’ll be happy with his performance.
Rob Holding: 7.5/10
Another player who didn’t have a lot to do this afternoon. He contained Alexandre Lacazette and Moussa Dembele well and was solid with his passing. Can’t complain.
Gabriel Magalhaes: 8.5/10
Gabriel opened the scoring this afternoon with a stunning header. He was solid all game and started many of our attacks from the back. Excellent performance!
Kieran Tierney: 8/10
We expected Oleksandr Zinchenko to start at left-back today, but Tierney was the one who got the nod. The Scotsman was very, very good this afternoon – both in attack and at the back.
Mohamed Elneny: 8/10
The Egyptian started at the base of our midfield and he was solid. He got on the ball, his passing was good and he was brilliant with his defensive work as well. A very solid display against a very poor Lyon side.
Albert Sambi Lokonga: 8/10
Had one shaky moment early on when he let the ball roll past him and conceded possession, but he more than made up for it with an outstanding long ball to Vieira for Nketiah’s goal. That should give him a lot of confidence going forward.
Fabio Vieira: 9/10
We’ve never been big fans of Vieira starting out wide, but he changed our mind today. He was a constant threat throughout but missed two chances that he should’ve done better with. However, he made everyone forget that with an absolute stunner from outside the box to triple our lead.
Martin Odegaard: 9/10
The Arsenal captain was absolutely brilliant today. He ran the show in his number 10 role, and even though he didn’t score, he was the best outfield player on the pitch, in our opinion.
Reiss Nelson: 8/10
The Englishman started the game really well. He was sharp from the get-go and really stretched Lyon’s defence. Unlucky to not have scored – his fierce left-footed shot only struck the post.
Eddie Nketiah: 8/10
Worked very hard as usual and got his goal – albeit with a not-so-convincing finish. However, they all count, and hopefully, that gives him the confidence he needs to become our main man until Gabriel Jesus is back.
Man of the Match: Karl Hein
Outstanding throughout the game and our hero in the penalty shootouts – saving four of Lyon’s five strikes from the spot. Absolutely outstanding!
