Arsenal stars Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes have praised teammate Leandro Trossard for his performance against West Ham United.
Trossard was handed a rare start in the Gunners’ Premier League encounter against the Hammers at the London Stadium on Sunday, February 11. This was only the eighth league game the Belgian has started this term.
Starting as their centre-forward, he enjoyed a stellar outing as Arsenal thrashed the hosts 6-0. Trossard scored their fourth goal of the day, curling an effort into the top corner from the edge of the box with his right foot in first-half stoppage time.
Overall, he had five shots (two on target) and two successful dribbles, while completing 79% of his passes, including all three long-ball attempts. He also won a foul and five duels, and made two tackles.
After the match, Trossard took to Instagram to post a carousel of images of him and his teammates celebrating his goal and captioned it:
“Game. Set. Match. 🙌”
Havertz, Gabriel, Odegaard and Saka all commented on the post.
“😮💨😮💨,” Saka wrote.
” What a player 😮💨❤️,” Gabriel commented.
“🪄🪄🪄,” Havertz wrote.
“Ballerrr❤️,” Odegaard commented.
Prior to Trossard’s strike, goals from centre-backs William Saliba (32′) and Gabriel (44′) either side of Bukayo Saka’s 41st-minute penalty set the visitors on their way. Saka added a second in the 63rd minute before Declan Rice, in his first league game back at the London Stadium, scored a screamer three minutes later.
“They did really, really well” – Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praises Kai Havertz, Trossard for display vs. West Ham
Mikel Arteta chose to switch around his set-up on Sunday after Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Liverpool in their previous match. Kai Havertz, who started that game upfront, dropped to midfield in place of Jorginho, with Leandro Trossard starting upfront.
The move paid dividends as both players enjoyed fruitful outings in an all-round excellent performance from the Gunners. Havertz didn’t record a goal or assist, but laid out three key passes and completed 91% of his passes. He also won eight duels and two fouls, while recording a tackle, a clearance and an interception.
In his post-match press conference, Arteta was questioned about his decision to play Havertz and Trossard the way he did. He explained the same, while also praising the duo for their display (as quoted by Arsenal’s official website):
“It’s something very different and the way I had the game in my head, and the spaces and behaviours that they have, how we could hurt them the most with Leo and Kai in those positions. And then we saw that in the executions – credit to them, they did really, really well.”
With the win, Arsenal moved level on points with second-placed Manchester City (who have a game in hand), but remain third, two points behind leaders Liverpool. They will next face Burnley at Turf Moor in the Premier League on February 17.
Thank You!