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Arsenal vs Fulham Player Ratings: A Fantastic Start

Henry Payne
Henry Payne

Pain in the Arsenal

Arsenal's Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (R) celebrates scoring their third goal with Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Willian (L) during the English Premier League football match between Fulham and Arsenal at Craven Cottage in London on September 12, 2020. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Arsenal opened the new Premier League campaign on a glorious Saturday afternoon with a rather pleasant 3-0 win over Fulham.

On Saturday afternoon, Mikel Arteta‘s Arsenal began their 2020/21 Premier League campaign with an enjoyable 3-0 win against London rivals Fulham. It was certainly cagey in the game’s early moments, as a miscommunication between Gabriel Magalhaes and Bernd Leno nearly gifted Fulham an early goal. However, Alexandre Lacazette soon scuffed the ball into Marek Rodák‘s net to give Arsenal the lead at the interval.

Gabriel thundered a header home on his debut before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored another signature goal from the left-hand side to ensure that the Gunners returned home with three points.

Starting with Leno, here is how I graded the performance of every Arsenal player.

Arsenal’s Spanish first-team manager Mikel Arteta  (Photo by PAUL CHILDS / POOL / AFP).
Arsenal’s Spanish first-team manager Mikel Arteta  (Photo by PAUL CHILDS / POOL / AFP).
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 12: Mohamed Elneny (Photo by Ben Stansall – Pool/Getty Images).
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 12: Mohamed Elneny (Photo by Ben Stansall – Pool/Getty Images).
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 12: Alexandre Lacazette (Photo by Ben Stansall – Pool/Getty Images).
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 12: Alexandre Lacazette (Photo by Ben Stansall – Pool/Getty Images).

Considering that the game was already won by the time they entered, Nicolas Pépé, Dani Ceballos, and Eddie Nketiah‘s performances were not graded. Pépé and Ceballos looked sharp in their cameo appearances, and Nketiah did his customary running.

Mikel Arteta could not have asked for much more from his players today. It was not always pretty, yet his team emerged comfortable winners.

Henry Payne

Henry Payne

Henry Payne is a Broadcast Journalism (MA) student at Cardiff University.