Viktor Gyokeres scored his first Arsenal goal as the Gunners beat Athletic Club Bilbao 3-0 at the Emirates. Arsenal saw a lot of the ball in the opening exchanges, yet they were careless at the back early on. Playing at left-back, Riccardo Calafiori gave away the ball in a dangerous area. Inigo Ruíz de Galarreta intercepted, but his effort was saved by David Raya. Gyokeres dropped off his man nicely with Bukayo Saka running down the right. Saka found Arsenal's new striker, but he couldn't beat Unai Simon in the Bilbao goal.
The game was fairly disjointed until 10 minutes before half-time when Arsenal took control. Martin Zubimendi whipped in a ball from the right and Gyokeres guided it beautifully past Simon with a header. Within a minute, Saka made it two. Simon came charging out of his goal, while Martinelli knocked the ball to his right for Saka to guide home into an empty net. With Bilbao unable to muster any real comeback, Arsenal had a fairly relaxed second half. Gyokeres was unfortunate not to get his second of the afternoon, when he headed a Noni Madueke cross against the post. There was still time for Kai Havertz to finish well to make it 3-0. Picking up the ball from the halfway line, he showed good pace before firing into the keeper's bottom left-hand corner.
Arsenal v Bilbao - Match Statistics
Arsenal
58%
10
6
2
0
Match highlights
Arsenal Player Ratings
Viktor Gyökeres
GK: David Raya - 6/10
Made a good early save, but as Arsenal took a stranglehold of the game he had little to do.
RB: Jurrien Timber - 6.5/10
Did seem to get a niggle when chasing an over-hit Odegaard ball, but ran it off.
CB: William Saliba - 6.5/10
Mostly untroubled at the heart of the Arsenal defence.
CB: Gabriel - 6.5.10
Like Saliba, had a trouble-free afternoon for the Gunners.
LB: Riccardo Calafiori - 7/10
Made a careless pass in his own box in the first-half, but looked very good on and off the ball at times.
DM: Declan Rice - 6.5/10
Looked to have a solid partnership with Zubimendi.
DM: Martin Zubimendi - 8/10 - Player of Match
Looked very solid and capable and put in a cracking cross for Gyokeres' goal in the first-half.
RW: Bukayo Saka - 7.5/10
Looked sharp, dangerous and gave a performance to remind us he is Arsenal's best player.
AM: Martin Odegaard - 6.5/10
Had some nice touches as he looked to get himself into the game.
LW: Gabriel Martinelli - 6.5/10
Made the Bilbao 'keeper look silly when he assisted Saka to make it two-nil.
CF: Viktor Gyokeres - 7.5/10
Dropped off his man to find space and get a strike off in the first half, before putting the Gunners one-up with a great header.
SUB: Noni Madueke - 6.5/10
Put in a nice cross for Gyokeres, who hit the post with a diving header. Put some further nice crosses into the box. Has put himself in the frame to start against Manchester United.
SUB: Ben White - 6/10
Looked solid, but barely tested given Arsenal's dominance.
SUB: Cristhian Mosquera - 6/10
Given minutes, but the sting had been taken out of the game with the quick first two goals in the first-half.
SUB: Myles Lewis-Skelly - 6/10
Given minutes in the build up to the Premier League opener, with the tension in this game already gone given Arsenal's control.
SUB: Kai Havertz - 6/10
Late run out for the German international and got a late goal.
SUB: Ethan Nwaneri - 5/10
Given a run out in the last 10 minutes.
Athletic Club Bilbao Player Ratings
Inaki Williams
GK: Unai Simon - 6/10
Made a couple of saves, but was at fault for Arsenal's second goal.
RB: Jesus Areso - 6/10
Would have been grateful that Saka remained on the right, but still has his hands full.
CB: Dani Vivian - 6/10
Looked to protect his side as Arsenal committed bodies forward.
CB: Yuri Berchiche - 6/10
Continued to try play out of the back despite Arsenal's press.
LB: Inigo Lekue - 5/10
Had his hands full trying to track the runs of Saka.
DM: Inigo Ruíz de Galarreta - 6.5/10
Did well to intercept an Arsenal play out of the back, but probably should have scored.
DM: Mikel Jauregizar - 5.5/10
Capable on the ball, but not able to dictate play given Arsenal's press.
RW: Inaki Williams - 5.5/10
A fairly quiet afternoon for Williams, who was taken off at half-time.
AM: Unai Gomez - 5/10
Brought off before the 30-minute mark with a suspected injury without having made any significant impact on the game.
LW: Nico Williams - 6/10
His touch was excellent, but he still didn't really affect the game.
CF: Alex Berenguer - 6/10
Given very little service to which to do anything with.
SUB: Robert Navarro - 5/10
Showed some nice enough touches, but very hard to judge him on this cameo performance.
SUB: Maroan Sannadi - 5/10
The striker had very little to feed on when he came on.
SUB: Mikel Vesga - 5/10
Not short of work when he came on to shore up the Bilbao midfield.
SUB: Andoni Gorosabel - 5/10
Difficult to judge him as Bilbao weren't able to hit a groove to come back from the 2-0 deficit.
SUB: Adam Boiro - 5/10
The game was gone when the full-back came on.
SUB: Gorka Guruzeta - 5/10
Like the vast majority of his colleagues, looked a little flat in terms of taking the game to Arsenal.