Arsenal Dispatch Watford but May Face Defensive Reshuffle for Bayern Munich

Often in football, a scoreline fails to tell the full story of a game. The fact that Watford left the pitch to a rousing ovation from their fans, with Troy Deeney being given a standing ovation, tells you that Arsenal’s 3-0 win exaggerates the gulf between the two teams.

For the first 45 minutes, Watford were outstanding. Their defence was compact and calm, while Deeney’s muscular hold-up style offered them a dangerous and direct threat on the break.

However, Arsenal showed maturity and professionalism to turn the tide in the final third of the game. As Arsene Wenger explained afterwards to Arsenal.com:

"

To beat Watford you have to be completely committed to the game. We faced a Watford team that was well organised and knew exactly what they wanted to do. They were very physical in the challenge and very strong in the challenges and very direct.

These three things together, it took us a while to get on top of that. In the second half, the fatigue coming in, Watford came in less in the challenges and we got the ball quicker in transition and were much more dangerous. 

"

Key to the turnaround in Arsenal’s fortunes was Alexis Sanchez. In matches as tight as this one, the first goal is crucial, and there will have been little surprise that it was the Chilean who found the breakthrough. This was his 10th goal in his last six appearances for club and country.

PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images

From that point on, Arsenal’s class began to tell. The way they took apart a customarily stubborn Watford defence will have given Wenger real cause for encouragement, especially with a huge match against Bayern Munich coming up in midweek.

However, despite the clean sheet, there will be some cause for concern with Arsenal’s first-half defending. The Gunners’ second-half dominance was all the more surprising given the extent to which they were on the ropes in the first period of the game.

During that difficult spell, no player struggled more than Per Mertesacker. In Deeney and Odion Ighalo, he encountered a front two with the pace and power to give him nightmares for weeks.

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Mertesacker was always expected to start this game. It was Laurent Koscielny whose place in the side was less of a certainty, with the Frenchman having missed the duration of the international break with an injury. However, Koscielny was rushed back into the first team after Gabriel Paulista was ruled out with a minor problem.

It was not an easy reintroduction for Koscielny. With Mertesacker struggling, he was forced to bail Arsenal out on several occasions. On one occasion in particular, he performed a miraculous clearance to prevent Ighalo from reaching the ball after Deeney had spun away from Mertesacker to cross.

Sooner rather than later, Arsene Wenger may face a difficult choice about Mertesacker. The German is a hugely important figure in the Arsenal dressing room, but he is occasionally exposed by some of the Premier League’s more athletic forwards. Gabriel is expected to be back in the squad for the game against Bayern, and Wenger will face a difficult decision about which two of his three senior centre-backs will comprise his starting pair for the European showpiece.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.