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Goals from Shkodran Mustafi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave Wenger’s side their first league win since beating Everton 5-1 on 3 February.
The hosts had escaped punishment for a profligate first half and were indebted to Petr Cech for saving a Troy Deeney penalty just minutes after Aubameyang struck, the goalkeeper finally recording his 200th Premier League clean sheet.
Cech saved from Abdoulaye Doucouré and Richarlison while, between times, the goalkeeper pushed out a Richarlison free-kick to present Roberto Pereyra with an inviting chance. He blazed off target. Cech was not entirely convincing when asked to get down low with any degree of speed.
There was also a milestone in the commentary box as it was to be John Motson’s last live radio commentary. I could only hope that Watford would give him something interesting to talk about (in a good way).
There was no shame in this result. We paid Arsenal too much respect in the first half and if we had been more clinical with our chances we could have got something from the game. The penalty miss at 2-0 was the crucial moment in the game and in the end Arsenal deserved the points.
