Arsenal 2-0 Marseille: Gunners show touch of class to overcome French giants

Arsenal win a crunch tie

Arsenal defeated Marseille 2-0 at the Emirates on Tuesday evening to firmly plant one foot in Champions League round of 16, with Jack Wilshere hitting a brace to propel Arsene Wenger’s men to a rather comfortable victory in the friendly confines. The young England international struck less than 30 seconds into the encounter in putting the Gunners well on their way to victory early on, adding another midway through the second-half to send the Premier League leaders three points clear at the top of Group F heading into the final matchday of the group stage.

Key Stats:

The hosts were firmly in control of the game from start to finish, seeing a massive 64% of the possession as Marseille struggled to even get a touch of the ball for long periods.

Arsenal’s territorial dominance was enabled by precise and abundant passing, as they completed 90% of an astronomical 805 passes played (727 accurate passes), leaving Les Phoceens able to attempt just 376 passes of their own as the French outfit struggled for any sort of continuity going forward.

Elie Baup’s team looked hard pressed to muster intensity off the ball and resultantly made just eight tackles over the span of the 90 minutes, with the Gunners taking advantage of time and space to create 10 chances whilst Marseille could conjure up only three, their opponents racking up 18 tackles to quickly snuff out any offensive forays.

Man of the Match:

Jack Wilshere came away with Man of the Match honours on the back of his delightful double, finishing the contest with a Squawka Performance Score of 79.

The 21-year-old’s strike to conclude Arsenal’s first forward move in style set the tone for the rest of the match, deflating an adversary that has been comprehensively beaten down by the ‘group of death’ and allowing the Gunners to confidently lord over proceedings with an iron fist.

His Heat Map shows that the midfielder ran all about the attacking third from his primary role out wide on the right to deprive Marseille’s defence of reference points, sliding into space wherever available in an effort that was crucial to his scoring of his side’s second goal on 65 minutes.

Adding three key passes and a pair of take-ons to his accomplishments on the evening, Wilshere made himself a genuine threat whenever the opportunity presented itself both on and off the ball to prove highly influential in a crucial tie for the north London club.

Performance Score:

Wilshere made sure that Arsenal led in Performance Score from the opening whistle to full-time, with the Gunners’ steady climb throughout indicative of their ascendancy as Marseille remained relatively stagnant in hovering just below the zero mark.

By the fifth minute the hosts were on top 73 to -45 as Les Phoceens struggled for a foothold, the Premier League table-toppers going on to assume a massive 212 to -15 advantage by the half-time break.

Arsenal resumed their patient dominance at the start of the second-half and bided their time until soaring up towards the 400 barrier as Wilshere left Steve Mandanda in his wake to double his side’s lead, albeit inspiring a brief period of life from Baup’s charges in the process.

It was certainly too little too late for the Stade Velodrome outfit, however, as Wojciech Szczesny did what was asked of him and the Gunners remained stout in defence, seeing out the night with a Performance Score of 489 to Marseille’s all-telling -26.

Key Observations:

The victory certainly wasn’t Arsenal’s most thrilling of the campaign but were frighteningly powerful in all areas, with Marseille’s Action Areas map relaying the story of a side that barely got a whiff of their opponents’ penalty area.

Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini were particularly paramount to the Gunners’ success in the centre of the park as Wenger’s double pivot, combined to make seven tackles and two interceptions and completing an aggregated 187 of 208 passes to ensure midfield security.

Les Phoceens never truly looked like a threat as they mustered only a pair of shots on target in labouring to match the pace of the hosts’ play, and could’ve easily suffered a heavier defeat if Mandanda hadn’t beaten away Mesut Ozil’s 37th minute penalty to his right.

The German didn’t entirely look up to his usual standards with the miss from the spot but considering the lofty expectations set for him is always under the microscope, and indeed did leave his mark on the match in providing the assist for Wilshere’s second goal.