Arsenal: 5 key players to take three points in home opener vs Burnley

Arsenal move forward from their first clean sheet away from home into a home match-up against Burnley. Here are five key players to make it two in a row.

Arsenal‘s opening week against Newcastle wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. And, in a way, that’s what made it pretty. I was delighted that the attack wasn’t papering over the cracks in this one. Instead, what we saw was a solid defensive performance and a midfield that knew how to bear down and see the result to its conclusion.

Another problem against Newcastle was the complete lack of options in the attack. Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe and Mesut Ozil were all unavailable to start, leaving Reiss Nelson and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on either side of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and while Nelson acclimated admirably, Mkhitaryan… didn’t.

There figure to be some changes coming off of that opening day win, and the changes may well be strictly limited to the attack, since that is primarily where the problems were.

Still, in front of a screaming home crowd, the things that went right against Newcastle will need to go right again, so let’s touch on the five key players to give us a hearty home win and see the season start with two straight victories.

And maybe build a bit of a goal differential as well.

We start with No. 5.

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was our No. 1 key player going into Newcastle for one big reason: Process of elimination.

Knowing how limited the attack was going to be in terms of options, we needed Aubameyang to take his chances, and he did that, slotting home his one clear chance and making the most of his other few chances as well, all while trying to milk this attack for all the opportunities they could provide.

In the comforts of the Emirates, with possession largely in our favor, Aubameyang’s necessity will taper off a bit. He’s going to have plenty of chances and I’d be greatly surprised if he didn’t make the most of them.

But even if he doesn’t, there will be other options there, waiting to pick up the pieces, and we will get more into that later. First up, No. 4.