GABRIEL MARTINELLI GIVES UNAI EMERY NEW DIMENSION AS JOE WILLOCK SHINES - ARSENAL PLAYER RATINGS

Unai Emery's side picked up the three points in comfortable fashion.

It was also a night where a number of fringe stars such as Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Rob Holding were given more minutes as they continue their progress to regular first team action.

Here's how we rated the Arsenal team.

Every word Arsenal boss Unai Emery said on Mesut Ozil, Gabriel Martinelli and Kieran Tierney

Emiliano Martinez: Deserves some degree of sympathy for the occasions when he struggled with the high ball, such was the torrent of rain bombarding the pitch. He also saved rather impressively from Nicolas Gavory in the first half but that aside he was rarely tested. 6

Hector Bellerin: After nine months out with an ACL injury it was perfectly understandable that Bellerin's touch and technique still looked some way off their best. What will offer Unai Emery a great deal of encouragement was the explosive pace that the Spaniard showed in chasing down passes and harassing Standard Liege. 6

Shkodran Mustafi: There was one carelessly mislaid pass in the first half that bore the hallmarks of the old Mustafi but it is at least something that that felt like the exception rather than the rule. Indeed the German swept up impressively when Liege opted to punt the ball long and offered incisive passing from deep. 7
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Rob Holding: Here is a centre-back who just gets things done with a minimum of fuss. Holding won his fair share of aerials, passed the ball neatly and never made a mistake. In truth he was not particularly tested but that's just what he would want as he steps up his recovery from injury. 7

Kieran Tierney: Now here's a player Arsenal have been looking for for a very long time. Tierney's delivery on the run is the best the Gunners have had from a left-back since Ashely Cole as he proved with a gorgeous cross for Gabriel Martinelli's first goal.

In the first half he led his side with three chances created and he continued to menace in the second, when you couldn't help but wonder whether Emery might have been better holding him in reserve for Bournemouth on Sunday. 8

Unai Emery praises Gabriel Martinelli

Lucas Torreira: The Uruguayan looked far more at home as the deepest-midfielder than he had in a box-to-box role. He could still cover hard yards on the pitch but with Dani Ceballos scheming next to him was able to focus on the clearly superior defensive side of his game.

There is logic in Emery trying to do to Torreira what Maurizio Sarri did with N'Golo Kante but for the time being it is clear that the No.11 is far more comfortable around his own box than the opposition's. 7

Dani Ceballos: Delicate, graceful and with an eye for a killer pass, Ceballos excelled in a deeper role much as he had done against Burnley, who, just like tonight's appointments, gave him the space and time to weave his magic. A gorgeous ball into the path of Tierney early in the second half was worth the admission fee alone. 8

Ainsley Maitland-Niles: A player who has publicly said on many occasions in his Arsenal career that he is more winger than full-back might have hoped to make a more significant impact on this game bar the odd press and a slip when well-placed down the right. 5

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Joe Willock: Fielded in the position that most had pencilled Mesut Ozil into he offered the sort of performance that the German simply cannot, one full of hard-running, imposing strength and lethal finishing. Too often this season Arsenal have lacked a link man between midfield and attack; Emery clearly has one in Willock. 8

Reiss Nelson: His every touch seemed to strike fear in the heart of the Liege defence and with good reason. His attitude is all that is right about the Arsenal academy: fearless, focused on attack and collaborative. Another very impressive performance by the youngster. 8

Gabriel Martinelli: Francis Cagigao found this kid where? Until January he was playing in the fourth tier of Brazilian football but he already looks ready to contribute to Arsenal at a higher level that the Europa League.

Finishing that looks like he has been studying at the school of Aubameyang but the Gabon striker cannot match Martnelli's remorseless prressing. From the outset he was putting the fear of god into Liege defenders, snapping at their feet and winning the ball in dangerous areas. 9