Fantastic result today. We had a shaky opening 7-8 minutes, but we looked fairly settled after we scored. Fulham knocked it about nicely. I don't remember them creating any clear chances, though.
Gabriel, early error aside, had a tremendous game. Combative in the air, positions himself well, looks comfortable playing the ball out from the back and very good in 1v1 situations. Kamara barely had a sniff.
Holding was very dodgy in the first half. Instead of maintaining defensive shape, he was running to win the ball high up the field (which he didn't) and it left a huge space in behind that, luckily, Fulham weren't able to take advantage of. His passing also wasn't up to scratch. Second half, he was much more disciplined and solid.
What a debut too for Willian - 3 assists, created 2 other big chances and hit the post. I hope he carries this form on because we'll have one hell of a player on our hands.
Aubameyang I actually thought had a really quiet game up until he scored, but his finish was just trademark Auba. Stunning finish. Hope we announce his new deal soon.
Special shoutout to Elneny too - everyone thought he was going to be sold and wasn't going to play for us again. I don't think many wanted to either. But he was defensively resolute, kept possession ticking over, covered lots of ground and allowed us to play at a comfortable tempo. Good performance from him. If we don't sell him, I'm happy with him as a squad option for now.
Overall, a good, comfortable win on the opening day. Let's keep the momentum going.