Arsenal 2 Marseille 0: Player ratings as Jack Wilshere stars

Arsenal

Wojciech Szczesny The Pole made easy money on his new contract tonight but was smart in what he did do. Managed to keep his concentration to make two tidy saves from both Gignac and Thauvin in the second half. 7/10

Bacary Sagna The Frenchman strolled forward against his compatriots for an hour without having to do any defending. Relaxed a little more towards the end when the game was already won and Valbuena occupied him a little more. 7

Per Mertesacker The most action the big German got was when he came up for corners, of which he couldn’t quite repeat his goal-scoring exploits from Wembley. 6

Laurent Koscielny The Frenchman strolled out of defence with the ball at ease to start off counter attacks and must have had one of the most comfortable nights he has ever had in an Arsenal shirt. 6

Nacho Monreal Similarly to Sagna, the Spaniard was seen much more in the opposition half. He didn’t quite get as much ball down the left though. Defensively he did smartly anticipate a looping deflection to clear off the line. 6

Aaron Ramsey Nice skill for the penalty, although it was outside the area. Continued his form with tricky moments and nice patterns with Wilshere, Ozil and Rosicky. 8

Mathieu Flamini This was an easy comeback game for the midfield enforcer as he was not required to win the ball back very often against his hometown club. 6

Jack Wilshere (man of the match) Fantastic finish for the first goal, arrived well for the second and can be delighted with his all-round display before being given a rest by Wenger with 15 minutes remaining. 9

Mesut Ozil Poor penalty from the German international but looked a class above in third gear for the whole night. 8

Tomas Rosicky The Czech was busy, as well as comfortable on the ball, whilst interchanging positions all night. 7

Olivier Giroud Not quite his night as he slipped at vital times or the ball didn’t quite drop for the striker. 6

Substitutes

Theo Walcott Came on for WIlshere on 74 and toe poked his one chance wide of Mandanda’s goal. 6

Santi Cazorla Came on for Rosicky on 74 and blazed over a wild volley uncharacteristically. 6

Mikel Arteta Not enough time to make an impact. N/A

Marseille

Steve Mandanda The France International and Marseille captain made some smart saves, including one from Ozil penalty but could do nothing about the two goals. 7

Kassim Abdallah The Comoros international wasn’t allowed to maraud forward and was penned back by the interchanging Arsenal attackers. 5

Nicolas N’Koulou The 23-year-old Arsenal target dealt with his direct opponent in Giroud pretty well but was left exposed too many times due to lack of midfield pressing from his team-mates. 6

Michel Lucas Mendes Similarly to his centre-back partner N’Koulou they were left exposed to runners from deep, rather than their direct opponent. 6

Jeremy Morel Not a great night for the 29-year-old left back. He allowed Wilshere in way too easily after just 30 seconds and it went downhill from there if that was possible. 4

Mario Lemina The 20-year-old had the thankless task of controlling Ozil, Ramsay and Wilshere and didn’t get near them all night. His manager had mercy on him, substituting him after 80 minutes. 5

Alaixys Romao The 29-year-old Togo international alongside the younger Lemina didn’t particularly lead by example with Arsenal passing around him. 5

Jordan Ayew The Ghanaian son of Abedi Pele and brother of team-mate Andre never allowed to get into the game before being subbed just short of the hour mark. 5

Gilbert Imbula The French Under-21 international will be disappointed that after being given the chance he was never given the ball in dangerous enough areas to show what he can do before being replaced on the hour. 5

Saber Khelifa The Tunisian was keen from the beginning but faded in the second half. Most of his work was chasing Sagna towards his own goal. 6

Andre Pierre Gignac The 27-year-old was absolutely isolated all night. His midfield runners may have gotten closer to him had they stayed in the south of France. 5

Substitutes

Florian Thauvin The French U21 star made more of an impact when coming on for Imbula than the rest of the starting 11 did in the previous hour. His best moment was forcing a very smart save from Szczesny from a low drive. 6

Mathieu Valbuena On for Ayew after 56 minutes, the 5ft6 current French International looked a cut above the starting side, but that wasn’t too difficult. 6

Benoit Cheyrou Not enough time to make an impact. N/A