Wenger: Aubameyang will prove a bargain
Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal’s £56 million record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will prove to be a bargain and warned there is more to come from the striker.
Aubameyang marked his Arsenal debut with a goal in the 5-1 thrashing of Everton, in which another of Wenger’s January signings, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, shone.
On Aubmeyang, Arsenal manager Wenger said: “It’s a reasonable price, I think so, yes. That quality of striker, on today’s market, it’s a very good price.
“I feel the quality of his movement was excellent. The quality of his finishing looks excellent. He is not completely at his best physically and still has work to do in that respect.”
Aaron Ramsey netted a hat-trick and yet it was the performance of Mkhitaryan, who arrived at Arsenal from Manchester United in a swap deal involving Alexis Sanchez, which had the Emirates crowd purring.“
“He is a good link player and works very hard,” said Wenger. “Overall, he looked well accepted by the team. It was a convincing debut.”
The result marked an unhappy return for former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who was part of an Everton performance that manager Sam Allardyce labelled “total crap.” Allardyce blasted his team, saying: “If you play at the Emirates, you’ve got to play at your best, and our 11 didn’t play anywhere near their best.” Ademola Lookman scored on his RB Leipzig debut, having moved on loan, but Allardyce rejected the suggestion that Everton would have benefited from keeping him. He said: “We’ve got £20 million Theo Walcott and £30million Yannick Bolasie and if you’d put him [Lookman] out there, he wouldn’t have done any better.”
If this is to be the final chapter of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal reign then, on this evidence, it is going to be one hell of a ride.
But it was not quite out with the old, as Aaron Ramsey netted a hat-trick on a night when £56million record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan became the new heroes of the Emirates crowd.
Aubameyang opened his Arsenal account, while Mkhitaryan picked holes in the appalling Everton defence with Ramsey the main beneficiary.
Laurent Koscielny also scored in a victory that will have had Gunners fans wondering why they wasted so much time and energy worrying whether or not Alexis Sanchez would stay.
Having spent the last few years attempting to make Arsenal harder to beat by trying to find a midfielder who might sit in front of the defence and experimenting with a back three, Wenger has reverted to type. The fact Ramsey was meant to be one of Arsenal’s more defensively-minded midfield players summed up the fact that Wenger appears ready to throw the kitchen sink at trying to make a run for the top four.
If he is to leave at the end of this season, then he clearly wants to go out in style and it seems, win, lose or draw, the Emirates will be an exciting place to watch football again. Everton simply could not cope with Arsenal’s all-out attacking approach, though there were gaps that better opponents will expose.
Aubameyang was making his debut, while Mkhitaryan’s start was his first in Arsenal colours and Mesut Ozil was playing for the first time since finally signing a new contract. It took just six minutes for the trio to combine to set up Ramsey to open the scoring. Such was the jubilation that Mkhitaryan had chalked up an early assist, with an inch-perfect pass into the area, that most of the Arsenal players ran to celebrate with the Armenian rather than with Ramsey. Mkhitaryan then fired just wide to give home fans cause for optimism that he may be another player who will flourish away from Jose Mourinho.
Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah are examples of players who have shone after being freed of the Mourinho shackles and Mkhitaryan revelled in his new surroundings. That he rivalled Ramsey for the man-of-thematch award showed how good the former Borussia Dortmund playmaker was. Aubameyang saw a shot deflected wide, before Arsenal doubled their lead in the 14th minute. Ozil’s corner was headed on by Shkodran Mustafi and Koscielny dived in ahead of Aubameyang to head the ball past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Five minutes later, Arsenal were 3-0 up and Eliaquim Mangala’s nightmare start to his Everton loan was complete. Ramsey shot speculatively from 20 yards and the ball glanced off the defender to wrong-foot Pickford.
Ramsey was the longest-serving player in Arsenal’s starting line-up, having been at the club for 10 years, and he was proving that he can still play a big part in the club’s new era.
Theo Walcott, a player sacrificed in Arsenal’s January reshuffle, showed there is still life in him. Oumar Niasse sent the forward away on goal and he looked destined to score after checking inside Nacho Monreal, but Mustafi produced a goal-saving challenge.
Walcott’s pace has been replaced by the jet-heeled Aubameyang and he left the Everton defence for dead before sending a low shot into the legs of Pickford. But the Gabon international did not have to wait long for his debut goal, even if it should have been ruled out for offside. Mkhitaryan put the ball through, and the flag stayed down as Aubameyang chipped it into the net.
Furious Everton manager Sam Allardyce replaced Michael Keane with Tom Davies at the break. Niasse should have cut the deficit shortly after the restart but poked the ball against a post from Walcott’s wonderful delivery. Walcott went off to a standing ovation from Arsenal fans and was replaced by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he beat Sead Kolasinac in the air to head in Cuco Martina’s cross.
Petr Cech had not come for the cross after suffering an injury and the 35-year-old was replaced by David Ospina with just over 20 minutes left.
Mkhitaryan and Ramsey completed superb individual displays by combining for the Welshman to complete a hat-trick. The great entertainers might just be back.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech 6 (Ospina, 70, 6); Bellerin 7, Mustafi 7, Koscielny 7, Monreal 7 (Kolasinac, 46, 5); Ramsey 9 (Wilshere, 75), Xhaka 6; Iwobi 7, Ozil 8, Mkhitaryan 9; Aubameyang 8. Subs Lacazette, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Elneny. Booked Mustafi, Koscielny. Everton (3-4-3) Pickford 5; Keane 4 (Davies, 46, 6), Williams 4, Mangala 4; Kenny 5, Gueye 5, Schneiderlin 5, Martina 5; Walcott 6 (Calvert-Lewin, 61, 7), Niasse 6 (Tosun 78, 6), Bolasie 5. Subs Rooney, Sigurdsson, Holgate, Robles (g). Referee Neil Swarbrick (Preston).