Ozil and Mkhitaryan pull the strings as Troy Deeney lost his ‘Cojones’ – Plus Player Ratings

Arsenal 3-0 Watford

We had the cojones…shame Deeney didn’t….

In a way it’s funny, since not only was “cojones” a major trending word on Twitter, it has triggered us Gooners in a big way.

And rightly so, since Deeney’s comments in our loss to Watford were true, though in highly poor taste.

However, we were very strong overall here, and warranted the win.

In the first half, we started well, and scored readily from Mustafi’s header. Ozil got a 50^th Premier League assist in record time, and despite some half-chances from Watford, we were fairly comfortable in the first 45 minutes.

The second half was livelier.

Another PEA goal

PEA got another goal, this time assisted by his former BVB buddy, Mkhi. However, shortly after this, Maitland-Niles brought down a Watford player in the box and it was a penalty.

Lo and behold, the man who says we lack the balls stepped up to get one back for the Hornets. But what happened was one of the funniest possibly in the history of the Emirates Stadium.

Deeney didn’t follow his own advice, and lacked the cojones to score.

And Cech, for once, saved a penalty.

It was a perfect way to show the cojones, and Mkhi did so by scoring a great third goal.

Impressions/player ratings

It was a fairly comfortable game overall. Watford didn’t offer much, and our attacking players did well.

Cech managed to get his 200^th clean sheet, and surely ranks amongst Schmeichel and Seaman in the all-time PL-era keepers. The defence did well to attain this clean sheet too.

Cech 7, Maitland-Niles 7, Holding 7, Mustafi 8, Kolasinac 7, Elneny 7, Xhaka 6, Ozil 7, Iwobi 5, Mkhitaryan 8, Aubameyang 8, Welbeck 6, Wilshere 5, Chambers 6

The midfield managed to handle Watford’s physical presence, and Ozil/Mkhi did well in supplying two goals between them.

Deeney’s miss was highly comical, and it was a pretty formulaic win.

If anything, I was surprised that Watford did not provide as much fight as anticipated.

Does this mean all is well? No, it doesn’t. We won’t get top four, and this doesn’t mean that all of our problems have gone away.

All the same, it was good to win today. This game also lends to some further thoughts:

• Can PEA rival Kane, Aguero, Salah, and the other top strikers in time?

He’s scoring well since joining, and could prove very good in months to come.

Can he be a contender for next season’s Golden Boot? Why not? It’s a shame he won’t grace the World Cup, but we have a gem in our midst.

• Mkhi

Can Mkhi prove to be as valuable as Ozil? I don’t see why not. After a few slow games, he did very well in Milan and today.

Mkhitaryan scored again

• Mustafi

Is Mustafi getting a knack for scoring from set pieces? His goal echoed that of Tottenham, and he is becoming a dangerous threat from set pieces.

Man of the match

Ozil

Ozil breaks another assist record

He may not be too inconsistent, but he has proven how good he can be today.

Some people bemoan contemporary football stats, but with his new assist record, he can surely be a vital piece in getting the best from PEA and Lacazette.

Marble Halls

MarbleHallsTV is an Arsenal social media account on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Been a Gooner since the 90s, inspired by Ian Wright, then Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Pires, Campbell, Rosicky, Koscielny, Ozil and Sanchez. A digital marketer/entrpreneur by profession, born in UK living in the Americas now.