The month of February was bloody fantastic for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who shrugged off concerns over their goalscoring ability by finding the back of the net a whopping 18 times.
All of those goals came in the Premier League, leading the Gunners to a maximum 12-point return, though they did draw a blank away at Porto in the Champions League after a rather bizarre change of approach.
They were so bad in Portugal that they failed to register a shot in target – a statistic all the more bewildering considering they did nothing but attack against Liverpool, West Ham United, Burnley and Newcastle United.
Arsenal are front and centre of the Premier League title race as a result, and had a number of standout performers in February who helped take them to the next level.
Honourable mentions
It was a really decent month for Leandro Trossard and Jorginho, who outside of anonymous showings against Porto, showed just how valuable they are to Arsenal.
The latter even scooped 90min’s player of the match awards against Liverpool and Newcastle, with his average rating for the month only brought down by a short cameo away at Burnley.
Appearances: 5
Average rating: 7.2 (6,9,9,5,7)
Player of the Match: 0
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard hasn’t hit the goalscoring heights of last season (15 Premier League goals with no penalties) but he put in a couple of outstanding displays in February.
In particular, the Norwegian was at his brilliant best as Arsenal dismantled West Ham at London Stadium, before repeating the trick six days later as Burnley were terrorised at Turf Moor.
Appearances: 5
Average rating: 7.2 (7,9,8,5,9)
Player of the Match: 0
William Saliba has been labelled the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of Arsenal’s defence, but it’s partner Gabriel who really stood out in February.
Minus an ineffectual display against Porto – where every Gunners player bar one struggled – the Brazilian was superb, particularly impressing against West Ham and Newcastle.
Appearances: 5
Average rating: 7.4 (7,7,8,6,9)
Player of the Match: 0
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