Europa League round-up: Arsenal striker makes the grade in gameweek 1's top performers

Europa League specialists Sevilla kickstarted their European campaign with a resounding 5-1 win over Standard Liege in the Roman Sanchez Pizjuan on Thursday night. The La Liga side are one of the favourites to lift the trophy next year and they outlined their intentions for European success with a comfortable victory, with Ever Banega the star of the show. 

The Argentine landed the WhoScored man of the match award with a 9.65 rating having had a direct hand in three of the five goals Sevilla scored. Banega scored two goals from five shots and chipped in with one assist from four key passes to round off a solid showing in Spain. Teammate Wissam Ben Yedder also makes the cut in the week’s top rated Europa League players. 

Like Banega, Ben Yedder bagged a brace in Sevilla’s 5-1 win over Standard Liege, with the Frenchman’s two goals coming from three shots, while an additional two key passes and one successful dribbles meant the 28-year-old was good value for a WhoScored rating of 9.00. 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rounds off the top performing players of the week after a strong showing in Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Vorskla. The Gabon star put the Gunners on the front foot in the first half to round off a fine counter attack before adding a second after the break. Aubameyang scored with two of four shots in the victory and returned a 100% pass success rate to gain a WhoScored rating of 8.98 before his 58th minute withdrawal. 

It was a disappointing Europa League debut for 19-year-old Standard Liege defender Zinho Vanheusden, who is our worst-rated player of the week with a WhoScored rating of 4.89. The teenager failed to win an aerial duels in Standard Liege’s 5-1 loss at Sevilla and failed to make a tackle in the resounding loss in Spain.