3 positives from the Arsenal vs Brentford game, Carabao Cup 2018-19
Arsenal continued their resurgence with a somewhat comfortable 3-1 win against Brentford at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. A brace from Danny Welbeck and a goal from Alexandre Lacazette saw off a Brentford side which gave Arsenal a scare in the second half as they pulled one back via a delightful free-kick scored by Brentford's Alan Judge.
Alexandre Lacazette made sure Arsenal sailed to the fourth round of the Carabao cup when he burst through on goal and finished expertly beyond the goalkeeper.
This is a list of a number of positives noticed in the game, indications that Unai Emery's impact on the team is yielding dividends.
#1 Bernd Leno is better with his feet than Petr Cech
The German has shown he is more comfortable playing out from the back than veteran keeper Petr Cech. He was responsible for the team's second goal scored by Danny Welbeck, which is exactly what Unai Emery wants his team to build on and continue for the rest of the season.
The system has the ability to draw out the opposition and create spaces at the back for the attackers to exploit. This was exactly what happened for the second goal.
It was a fantastic team goal which started out from the back. It started with goalkeeper Bernd Leno who lobbed the ball forward for Stephan Lichtsteiner just after an opposition attacker tried to put pressure on the goalkeeper.
Lichtsteiner then nodded the ball onto the path of Mkhitaryan who did a little Cruyff foot work, and drove the ball forward. He passed to Alex Iwobi who found Nacho Monreal for a square ball that Welbeck converted from close range. It was indeed glorious to watch.
Leno has the ability to play short passes, long passes, and even one such that it finds a teammate in the middle of the pitch. This is exactly the reason why he was signed. Young goalkeepers, especially Germans are naturally good at this, we can mention the likes of Manuel Neuer or Ter Stegen.
He only needs to work hard at becoming a better all round goalkeeper than Petr Cech, and you get the feeling he will upstage the veteran sooner rather than later.