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3 standout players from Arsenal’s first defeat of the season at Lens
RC Lens handed Arsenal their first defeat of the season in a difficult Champions League evening.
Gabriel Jesus put the Gunners ahead with a very precise finish, but a poor clearance from David Raya put Lens in, and Adrien Thomasson finished off a very neat counter-attack with arguably an even better finish.
Takehiro Tomiyasu almost smashed Arsenal back in front from a corner but Lens keeper Brice Samba was equal to it. Then, disaster struck when Elye Wahi beautifully turned in a cross to put Lens in front.
After that, Arsenal didn’t threaten apart from one lovely flowing move that Samba dealt with well again. It was quite a toothless performance and the absences of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, who limped off in the 33rd minute, were very acutely felt.
Full credit to RC Lens and their fans though. Franck Haise’s side were excellent. Both goals were extremely well taken and the fans did not stop shouting and singing all game, even when Arsenal had the lead.
https://twitter.com/EbukaMeansGreat/status/1709311026141823185
3 standouts from poor defeat at Lens
There weren’t very many good performances for Arsenal. Tomiyasu was poor and shaky, Leandro Trossard didn’t offer much and Martin Odegaard was just off the pace; misjudging passes which he usually threads through.
Saka was having a good game before he was forced off and Oleksandr Zinchenko had a decent first half, but there were three players that impressed me a bit more.
1. Declan Rice
Declan Rice is the only player who can feel aggrieved tonight. He was excellent and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) October 3, 2023
By a comfortable margin the best player in an Arsenal shirt. Declan Rice was as visible as ever, both in and out of possession. He did well to snuff out the half chances that Lens did create and was not at fault for either goal.
He did lose the ball on occasions, but he was trying to do more with it compared to his teammates; completing four successful dribbles out of four attempts and winning all six ground duels.
Rice was made for these Champions League nights and he was instrumental in Arsenal dominating the majority of the game. As he pointed out after the game, the Gunners will learn from this result but the club’s record signing doesn’t have a lot to learn from this game: he was fantastic.
Continued on the next slide…