Hits and Misses: FC Zurich (a)

On Thursday, Arsenal began their Europa League campaign, their first since the 2020-21 season, with a trip to Zurich. The Gunners were heavily rotated, with Mikel Arteta making seven changes from the lineup that faced Manchester United. Despite that, the stand-ins managed to look almost as good as the players they replaced. They dominated the match after an iffy opening ten minutes. However, also like the starters, they failed to make the dominance count. Arsenal were required to push hard to get the 2-1 victory. But a win is a win, and Arsenal sit first in their group with PSV drawing against Bodo/Glimt. Below are four Hits and two Misses from the match.

HITS

Marquinhos

A goal and an assist is not a bad way to mark your debut. That’s exactly what Marquinhos achieved in his first Arsenal appearance, effectively announcing himself to the club faithful. His goal capped off a terrific counterattack initiated by Fabio Vieira, and involved the Brazilian arriving late in the box to blast home Eddie Nketiah’s ball across the box. And his celebration for the goal indicated that he knows what it means to play for the club. The assist, however, was magnificent; from the touchline near midfield, Marquinhos lofted a beautiful deep cross that landed perfectly for Nketiah to nod home the winner. Since the summer transfer window ended, Gooners have been worried about Arsenal’s depth at right wing. Perhaps with Marquinhos around, we need not worry so much.

Fabio Vieira

Speaking of new players, Vieira landed his first start for the club on Thursday. While his performance was more of a mixed bag than Marquinhos’ was, the Portuguese midfielder still had his moments. He played an essential part of the first goal, using a deft first touch to get away from two Zurich players before playing a great ball into the channel for Nketiah. He almost scored himself minutes later. Sambi Lokonga lofted a terrific pass to him between two defenders, and Vieira was unlucky not to get the ball over the keeper while keeping it under the bar. It was a good showing from the 22-year-old.

Eddie Nketiah

Like Marquinhos, Nketiah also finished the match with a goal and an assist. The Englishman laid off a terrific pass for his Brazilian teammate to finish with aplomb. Marquinhos then returned the favor, playing a phenomenal cross to Nketiah, who headed in to give Arsenal all three points. One underrated aspect of Nketiah’s goal is how he aimed his header toward the ground, going too low for the keeper to get to the ball in time. Yes, he did annoyingly give away a penalty, but it’s safe to say he redeemed himself. These matches will be important for Nketiah to stay ready in case he is needed to fill in for Gabriel Jesus, so it’s encouraging to see him in good form.

Takehiro Tomiyasu

At this point, it is clear that Tomiyasu has lost his place in the starting XI to Ben White. The Japanese defender, having had a strong first season at the club, had not looked his usual self before the Zurich match. On Thursday, however, he was terrific. He was dominant in his duels, kept the right side of Arsenal’s defense free of danger, and also got up the pitch to support attacking moves well. Tomiyasu showed that if he is ever called upon to take over for White, the drop in quality will not be noticeable.

MISSES

Matt Turner

Turner’s Europa League debut got off to something of an inauspicious start. After a less than helpful pass from Gabriel, the American keeper did not do himself any favors with a poor attempted pass while positioned away from his goal. Gabriel was required to ensure that Zurich did not slot home a goal as a result of that error. Later on when he Zurich had earned a penalty kick, Turner seemed nervous and mouthed off to the referee multiple times for taking too long to blow the whistle. This discomfort was a theme of his game — even as he got more comfortable handling shots and crosses in the second half, Turner never seemed particularly confident. That will hopefully get better with time, but he may need a session or two with Carlos Cuesta.

Domination, but not on the scoreboard

Arsenal finished the match with 70% possession. According to Crab Stats, they produced over twice the xG that Zurich did, and over quadruple the number of final third entries. The Gunners had almost 80% of the field tilt as well. However, they failed to make it count, just as was the case against Manchester United and Fulham. Additionally, Arsenal allowed Zurich to come at them on the counter an uncomfortable number of times as well. Arteta himself did not seem too happy with his side’s failure to put the game away. This is becoming something of a theme for the Gunners, and it needs to be dealt with before it becomes a major issue.

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