ARSENAL thrashed newly promoted Leeds 5-0 as new signing Eberechi Eze watched on from the stands at The Emirates.
A glut of goals saw the Gunners cruise to a win in their opening home game of the season, including a first goal for Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres.
Leeds valiantly held off the Premier League runners up for the opening half an hour, and even came close to opening the scoring through Pascal Struijk’s powerful header, palmed away by David Raya.
But it was the head of Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber that would break the deadlock, glancing home beautifully from a Declan Rice corner in the 34th minute.
Starlet Bukayo Saka doubled the advantage just before half-time with a thumping finish into the roof of the net from a Timber through ball.
There would be no reprieve for the visitors, as Gyokeres beat his man and wrong-footed the keeper to make it three.
Timber added another goal for himself in the 54th minute, toe poking a scrappy goal past Lucas Perri in the chaos following another troublesome corner delivery.
Max Dowman’s introduction brought a spark of life to the late stages of the game, with the 15-year-old winning a penalty from Anton Stach, which Gyokeres dutifully dispatched.
Here’s how SunSport’s Tom Barclay rated the Gunners’ first win of the season at The Emirates
David Raya: 7
DID not have a load to do but did make an excellent reflex stop to turn over Pascal Struijk’s early header as Leeds threatened to ‘do an Arsenal’ and score from a corner.
Riccardo Calafiori: 7
LAST week’s matchwinner followed up his goal at Old Trafford with two assists here.
Although, in truth, Calafiori could hardly have thought that was what the end result would be on either occasion – the first a looped ball forward which Viktor Gyokeres turned into something magical, the second a faint touch before Timber scrapped in a second.
Gabriel: 7
SOLID as ever alongside centre-back partner Saliba.
Leeds’ one chance from a Struijk’s header did come when the delivery went over the Brazilian, but apart from that, he was a class act.
William Saliba: 8
IMPERIOUS. Did not give Leeds a sniff, timing his challenges well and firing some beautiful diagonal passes out to Arsenal’s widemen.
Jurrien Timber: 10
TWO GOALS and an assist – you can’t ask much more than that from any player, let alone a right-back.
Timber rose highest to become the latest set-piece scorer as he expertly headed home Declan Rice’s 34th-minute corner.
His end product was just as good as he slipped in Bukayo Saka for the second in first-half stoppage time, before he poked home from another corner after the break. And he got a clean sheet as well. Perfect.
Martin Zubimendi: 7
PASSING was not as crisp as it clearly can be and yet you can already tell the Spaniard will likely be the Gunners’ metronome in midfield this season.
Was not afraid to put himself in harm’s way to win free-kicks, either.
Declan Rice: 8
ZUBIMENDI’S signing has the potential to unlock Rice’s own capabilities as a box-to-box midfielder. There were hints of it here, if not glowing examples.
Still, his deadball deliveries once again caused all manner of problems as Timber scored from two of his corners.
Martin Odegaard: 6
DID not last the first half due to an injury to his right shoulder. The damage was done when the Gunners captain was sent hurtling to the turf on 14 minutes thanks to a cynical challenge from Anton Stach.
Odegaard looked in considerable pain right away but bravely played on anyway, until Mikel Arteta swapped him shortly after Arsenal went ahead.
Noni Madueke: 7
STARTED wide left in what looks like it could be Arteta’s preferred front three, injuries and Eze permitting.
Madueke kept the ball pretty well but apart from that it was a relatively quiet first start for the former Chelsea man.
Viktor Gyokeres: 8
THE first of many Bane celebrations, no doubt. The Swedish powerhouse, wearing Thierry Henry’s famous No14 shirt, scored his first goal for the club early on in the second half.
And it was reminiscent of the great Frenchman as he picked the ball wide on the left, dribbled infield past a few weak Leeds challenges before burying the ball at the near post.
Had his second in injury time after putting away a spot-kick won by 15-year-old Max Dowman.
Bukayo Saka: 8
THE England man scored a belter of a second just before the break – but then worryingly came off injured early into the second half.
He looked to be holding his left hamstring – the opposite one to the one he had surgery on Christmas Eve last season – but what the exact problem was was not clear.
There had been question marks where Eberechi Eze would fit in to this Arsenal team before the game, but with Saka and Odegaard picking up injuries to join the crocked Kai Havertz, the new man looks to have his pick of positions.
SUBS
Ethan Nwaneri (for Odegaard 38): 6
Being an 18-year-old seems relatively old for a wonderkid these days, when you consider Max Dowman is three years younger! Solid if unspectacular from Nwaneri.
Leandro Trossard (for Saka 53): 8
Looked sharp when coming on, with an assured touch and accurate passing.
Max Dowman (for Madueke 64): 9
Huge cheer as the 15-year-old came on for his Premier League debut. Paintbrush touch to take down a Trossard diagonal ball had the crowd going wild before the teenager crashed a shot over the bar.
Another dribble down the right had Gabriel Gudmundsson in all sorts of bother.
He then won a penalty in stoppage time when Stach caught him on his toe to complete an electrifying cameo. Just to reiterate, this kid is FIFTEEN.
Myles Lewis-Skelly (for Calafiori 64): 7
Calafiori’s two clean sheets and attacking returns in the first two games means you can hardly argue with Arteta’s team selection, but Arsenal look blessed at left-back with Lewis-Skelly vying for a start.
Cristhian Mosquera (for Timber 64): 6
On for man-of-the-match Timber for his Gunners bow.
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