Arsenal beat CSKA Moscow in the first leg of the quarter finals of the Europa League at the Emirates on Thursday evening. Read Layth Yousif’s PLAYER RATINGS.

Arsenal

Petr Cech: 6.5 – The veteran returned after a slight groin problem – but was his mobility affected by the injury prior to Alexsandr Golovin’s well-placed free-kick?

Hector Bellerin: 7 – Showed good vision in squaring for Aaron Ramsey to put the Gunners ahead on nine minutes.

Shkodran Mustafi: 6 - Poor start to the match and looked uncomfortable as CSKA open, attacking game stretched the backline. Not his best night

Laurent Koscielny: 6.5 – Marshalled CSKA’s experienced Swedish midfielder Pontus Wembloom during the times he took a more advanced role but his clumsy challenge on Golovin gave away the free-kick that the highly-rated 21-year-old scored from.

Nacho Monreal: 7 – Part of a backline that looked porous to start with but tightened up as the game progressed – to the extent where he could supplement attacks at will

Granit Xhaka: 6.5 – Quietly efficient as he worked hard to repel the early attacking onslaught from CSKA and was influential in helping the Gunners to a comfortable victory. He is a conundrum as he is not a box-to-box midfielder, nor a creative one and is simply not disciplined enough to be an effective shield in the hurly-burly of the Premier League.

Jack Wilshere: 7 – Prosaic compared to some of the output from other colleagues but performed well doing the dirty stuff in the middle of the park.

Aaron Ramsey: 9 – Excellent finish from the Welshman to put Arsenal ahead with a clinical strike but the finish for his second will be talked about for as long as this club plays European football. Could have had four goal on the night. The sooner the club offers him new deal the better.

Mesut Ozil: 9 – Sumptuous. Skilful. Sublime. Worth every penny of his £350,000 a week wages on this evidence.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 7.5 – Subbed for Alex Iwobi early in the second half. Wasn’t as influential as he would have liked but deserved his ovation as part of a lively attacking unit.

Alexandre Lacazette: 8.5 – Showed a cool head to slot home a first half penalty to reclaim the lead for the Gunners. Good touch and technique to control the box before firing off a low shot for his second. Excellent all round display from this true team player.

Substitutes:

Alex Iwobi: 7 – Looked lively. Which you can’t always say about him

Mohamed Elneny: 7 – On for Wilshere

Danny Welbeck: 7 – Came on for Lacazette but little time to make an impact