Sanchez shines, Arsenal wins first match in Premier League

Coach Arsene Wenger's team defeated Watford 3-1 in the third round of the 2016-2017 Premier League.

Arsenal's attackers had an effective match. Photo: Reuters.

Arsenal under great pressure when marching to the fieldVicarage Road this week. For the first time since the 2011-12 season, they have only taken one point from their opening two games. The fact that Arsene Wenger has a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars but has not been bold enough to spend has only added fuel to the criticism. Watford, under the leadership of Italian coach Walter Mazzarri, are proving to be a difficult team. They play a 3-5-2 formation but can switch to a 5-3-2 when needed.

And the reality happened exactly as predicted, Arsenal started the match proactively and dominated the ball possession but Watford played tightly. Then, the turning point suddenly appeared in the 8th minute. In a situation where he jumped high to receive a pass from Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez was fouled in the penalty area, giving Arsenal a penalty. Santi Cazorla completed the task, with a shot straight into the middle of the goal to open the score for the away team.

The two teams then switch roles.Watford pressed forward, while Arsenal played slowly and steadily. The game was a fierce tug of war, the ball was almost restless and the players on both sides tried not to leave any space for the opponent to combine. The only difference came from the stars.

In this match, Sanchez started as a striker, but in reality, he played very flexibly. Sometimes he would go up high, sometimes he would drop back like a playmaker. That's why Watford's defense, although understanding Sanchez's power, couldn't grasp it. A typical example was in the 40th minute. The Chilean striker escaped quite freely on the left wing to receive and finish from Theo Walcott's pass, raising the score to 2-0. In the first minute of injury time of the first half, Sanchez was the one who passed the ball to another Arsenal star of this match, Ozil, who headed in and scored.

Watford showed that they are a very difficult opponent. Photo: Reuters.

Arsenal only conceded once in this match, but not because their defense was too solid. In fact, Rob Hodling was still inexperienced when playing with Laurent Koscielny, while on the left wing Nacho Monreal was repeatedly exploited by the opponent. And in that context, goalkeeper Petr Cech was the one who contributed an important voice to help Arsenal preserve the victory. The Czech star only conceded once, before a turn and a neat finish from substitute striker Roberto Pereyra in the 56th minute. That situation reduced the score to 1-3 seemed to fuel the Watford players, helping them play with excitement in the rest of the second half.

However, Jose Holebas' long-range shots, Odion Ighalo's close-range finish, and Isaac Success' header all failed to get past Cech.

Cech had a busy but successful day with Arsenal. Photo: Reuters.

According to VNE