Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates their side's second goal with teammates ,(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates their side's second goal with teammates ,(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Bukayo Saka of Arsenal celebrates their side's second goal with teammates ,(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Arsenal player ratings: Mikel Arteta’s side get season off to a perfect start at Selhurst

Arsenal produced a good performance and got reward for their hard work with all three points at Selhurst Park.

Arsenal produced a good performance to grab a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, in the first game of the season.

Mikel Arteta’s side had to show determination and grit to see out the game, but for long periods, their quality showed as they swept aside a Palace side who couldn’t finish their chances.

The speed and efficiency in the first 25 minutes of the game was just a continuation of their fine pre-season where they put 10 goals past both Chelsea and Sevilla.

Gabriel Martinelli, perhaps not the Brazilian many expected to open the scoring, stepped up to head home a really well crafted corner kick that gave Arsenal the lead.

In doing so he became the 11th different Brazilian to score for the Gunners.

The goal seemed to have awoken Crystal Palace who then responded with an improved performance, defender Joachim Andersen in particular was magnificent as he hit his trademark diagonal passes to great effect.

The Eagles ended the first half on top but it was the Gunners who still had the lead and the second half continued with Palace just shading possession.

But a moment of magic from Bukayo Saka and a mistimed header from Marc Guehi gave Arsenal the second goal they needed to see out the game and take all three points.

The win for the Gunners is the perfect start Mikel Arteta would have dreamt of last night, while Crystal Palace have now lost eight of their last 11 Premier League openers.

In the end, Arteta shook the hands of all his players and walked off as fast as he could knowing that he has got the points he came for but there was still lots of work to do.

Here is how we rated all the Arsenal players from Selhurst Park.

The speed and efficiency in the first 25 minutes of the game was just a continuation of their fine pre-season where they put 10 goals past both Chelsea and Sevilla.