3 standout players from Arsenal’s first defeat of the season at Lens

October 3, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div> <p>By a comfortable margin the best player in an Arsenal shirt. Declan Rice was as visible as ever, both in and out of possession. He did well to snuff out the half chances that Lens did create and was not at fault for either goal.</p> <p>He did lose the ball on occasions, but he was trying to do more with it compared to his teammates; completing four successful dribbles out of four attempts and winning all six ground duels.</p> <p>Rice was made for these Champions League nights and he was instrumental in Arsenal dominating the majority of the game. As he pointed out after the game, the Gunners will learn from this result but the club&#8217;s record signing doesn&#8217;t have a lot to learn from this game: he was fantastic.</p> <p><em>Continued on the next slide&#8230;</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span>&nbsp;#2 standout performer in Lens defeat </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div class="embed "> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only players who were excellent today were Rice and Saliba.</p> <p>A good lesson to learn for Mikel, this is his first CL away game.</p> <p>&mdash; P&trade; (@SemperFiArsenal) <a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"https://twitter.com/SemperFiArsenal/status/1709312333607243939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>October 3, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div> <h2>2. William Saliba</h2> <p>The other man who was made for these nights. Off the ball, it wasn&#8217;t anything special from the Frenchman who couldn&#8217;t do a lot to prevent either goal but was solid outside of that.</p> <p>I was very impressed with his performance on the ball, however. He was one of few players showing some urgency and injecting a bit of pace into his passes. He did well to find players between the lines and those passes were what led to the best Arsenal phases.</p> <p>It is extremely reassuring to watch him next to Rice. They are both so consistent and offer a reassurance that no Arsenal player has offered in a long, long time. These two are simply untouchable.</p> <p><em>Continued on the next slide&#8230;</em></p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #c01f2f" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span>&nbsp;#3 standout performer in Lens defeat </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><p>https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/1709287934426337335</p> <h2>3. Gabriel Jesus</h2> <p>Another game in the Champions League, another goal for Gabriel Jesus. He did very well to finish quite a difficult chance, shimmying away from the defender to create a yard of space and then rifling it into the bottom corner.</p> <p>Hopefully, the Brazilian will keep adding goals to his tally and get some real confidence in front of goal. He&#8217;s clearly not short of confidence and is a real asset for the team in the way that he constantly offers an outlet and hounds the opposition.</p> <p>However, when he gets closer to the goal, he can be disappointing. He missed a sitter against Tottenham that punished the Gunners, but also scored a lovely goal against PSV and a humiliating goal against Manchester United. It&#8217;s up to him now to start burying his chances.</p> <p>Against Manchester City, we need Jesus firing on all cylinders as well as Saka&#8217;s quality. It is an incredibly important game and going into it with a loss isn&#8217;t ideal. City&#8217;s loss against Wolves last weekend should be a real cause for optimism, though, and they will still be missing Rodri in midfield.</p> <div class="embed "> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="5KRwFGbdKo"><p><a href=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/lens-2-1-arsenal-player-ratings/">Lens 2-1 Arsenal: Player ratings as Gunners falter in France</a></p></blockquote> <p><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" title="&#8220;Lens 2-1 Arsenal: Player ratings as Gunners falter in France&#8221; &#8212; Pain in the Arsenal" src=https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/3-standouts-from-first-defeat-of-the-season/3/"https://paininthearsenal.com/2023/10/03/lens-2-1-arsenal-player-ratings/embed/#?secret=202cMISOep#?secret=5KRwFGbdKo" data-secret="5KRwFGbdKo" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p></div> <p>It&#8217;s time for the Gunners to bounce back and show that they are a truly elite side.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">