Arsenal came through as winners after penalties away from home on Wednesday night, after Arsene named a very young squad and left out several key players. The Gunners perked up in the second half and took the lead through Thomas Eisfeld after Niklas Bendtner set him up, however they conceded from a free header and the game went the distance. Niklas Bendtner scored the first penalty, before Serge Gnabry saw his saved and then Kristoffer Olsson, Chuba Akpom and Nacho Monreal all scored to ensure Arsenal won 4-3 on penalties.
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Lukas Fabianski – 6.5 – Impressed between the sticks and looked confident.
Carl Jenkinson – 7 – Battled for 120minutes, making several good runs and crosses.
Per Mertesacker – 7 – Man of the match for me, easy to tell Per is a regular in the first XI.
Thomas Vermaelen – 6 – Not the sharpest, his first 90 of the season didn’t go too badly.
Nacho Monreal – 6.5 – Scored the winning penalty and looked solid throughout.
Mikel Arteta – 6.5 – Experienced and assuring performance, lacked a little energy but first game back.
Isaac Hayden – 6 – Rash tackle early on but energy and passing impressed as he grew into game.
Thomas Eisfeld – 4 – Gets an extra .5 because he scored. Otherwise he hid all game.
Ryo Miyaichi – 3 – So frustrating. Running into blind alleys all game.
Serge Gnabry – 4.5 – Poor from the German, got involved a lot but no end product at all.
Niklas Bendtner – 6 – Missed a great chance to win it, but general link-up play and heading impressive for his first game back.
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