A first win of the season finally came as Arsenal show no mercy in the League cup. They are yet to win in the Premier League this season and this Carabaou Cup victory will provide a much needed boost.
The win came in the EFL Cup third round against West Bromwich Albion as they thrashed them scoring six goals in 90 minutes without conceding. West Brom were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2020/21 Premier League season and are unbeaten in the Championship this but they were just not good enough in front of their fans against Arsenal. An inexperienced West Brom side were no match for the strong side Mikel Arteta chose to field as he looked to kick start his sides season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Steals The Show
Arsenal Show No Mercy
Mikel Arteta made seven changes to the side that lost to Chelsea in the previous match. Arteta opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation and it was It was a debut match for new signing Aaron Ramsdale who joined from Sheffield United and also saw a second debut match for the returning Martin Odegaard. Arsenal had 75% of the possession and 14 shots from which 9 were on target. Arsenal were dominant in their own half as well making 569 passes with a pass accuracy of 89%. Around 200 of those passes were in the opposition half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started the game and after 17 minutes scored the first goal of the season and there was no coming back for West Brom. Aubameyang scored his second goal just before halftime. Nicholas Pepe scored the third goal in first half added time making it 3-0 at the interval.
In the second half, Bukayo Saka opened the scoring in the 50th minute with Martin Odegaard providing a neat assist. Aubameyang completed his hat trick in the 62nd minute before a 6th goal was scored by Alexandre Lacazette who came on as a substitute for Granit Xhaka.Â
Inexperienced West Bromwich AlbionÂ
Valérien Ismaël changed the starting 11 for this match and may have been caught out by the strength of the Arsenal line up. They managed just 25% possession mustering 11 shots but were unable to test new keeper Ramsdale at all.Â
West Brom’s main focus this season is a rerun to the Premier League and they will look to get back to winning ways in their next Championship match. against Peterborough United.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will look to build on this victory but their next opponents will be much tougher as they face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium before the international break. Arsenal’s last win against Manchester City came back in July 2020.Â
Main Image Embed from Getty Images