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

Well, it wasn’t the most enthralling of football games last night, but Arsenal got the job done in the end.

Mikel Arteta’s side knew that a win against Dinamo Zagreb would all but guarantee them passage into the Champions League round of 16, and played out a comfortable 3-0 win.

There were several impressive displays from the hosts, such as Jorginho, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard, who finally found the back of the net.

However, two stood out above the rest: Declan Rice and another starter, who showed that he could save the Kroenkes a lot of money this month.

Declan Rice’s game vs Zagreb

The last few weeks have seen Rice getting back to something close to his best of 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, leathering 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 take away from how effective he was as the left-eight in both his attacking and defensive responsibilities.

It’s not just us who were left seriously impressed by the former West Ham United captain either, as football.london’s Tom Canton gave him an 8/10 match rating at full-time, writing that it was yet “another dominant midfield display” from the midfield machine.

Unsurprisingly, the 26-year-old’s statistics from the game more than back up the praise, as in 93 minutes, he produced a combined expected goal and assist figure of 0.82, took 62 touches, maintained a passing accuracy of 91%, played one key pass, took four shots, won 100% of his ground duels, made one clearance, blocked two shots and made two tackles to boot.

In all, it was a brilliant performance from the Gunners’ £105m man, but he wasn’t the only regular who grabbed the headlines, as Kai Havertz put in a display that could end up saving the club millions.

Kai Havertz’s game vs Zagreb

Yes, the player in question is Havertz, who, after a few terrible weeks in which his place in the team was seriously questioned, put in another strong performance at the Emirates last night.

The German international did make his few, now customary, mistakes in the box, like 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 dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig

, was the one who stopped the ball and cushioned it just right for Rice to open the scoring 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 an exquisite pass from Gabriel Martinelli and did just that, helping to quell any nerves that might have been slowly creeping in due to Saturday’s game.

Unsurprisingly, Canton was just as impressed with the former Chelsea man, awarding him another 8/10 on the night and writing that he ‘perfectly controlled’ the ball for the team’s opener.

Now, should this be the start of a goalscoring run from the Aachen-born forward, then the powers that be at the club might opt not to sign a new striker this month and instead invest elsewhere in the team, but whether that would be a wise decision is a debate for another time.

Ultimately, it wasn’t a swashbuckling display from Arsenal, but a comfortable and professional one that saw them come out as deserved winners, hopefully with some momentum heading into the rest of the season.