Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shines but Eliaquim Mangala looked lost - How debutants fared this weekend

David Cooper - Writer 13:22 04/02/2018
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  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

    We assess the impact of the Premier League‘s debutants in the first fixtures since the end of the January transfer window – as well as one departed player.

    Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)

    The £56million striker made a goalscoring start with a lovely chip over Jordan Pickford, albeit having been offside when the ball was played through, though he was overshadowed by fellow newcomer Henrikh Mkhitaryan‘s three-assist home debut and Aaron Ramsey’s hat-trick in the 5-1 rout of Everton.

    Eliaquim Mangala (Everton)

    On the other side of the coin was the Toffees’ on-loan Manchester City defender, who looked lost and displayed the form which made him a big-money flop at the Etihad Stadium. A deflection on Ramsey’s second goal put the seal on an evening to forget.

    Eliaquim Mangala

    Badou Ndiaye, Kostas Stafylidis (Stoke)

    Senegal midfielder Ndiaye, a £14million capture from Galatasaray, was the main bright spot in defeat to Bournemouth. He produced a pinpoint cross to set up Xherdan Shaqiri’s fifth-minute opener as well as showing his aggressive streak with a cynical tackle to prevent Bournemouth breaking, which brought a deserved booking.

    Greek defender Stafylidis, on loan from German club Augsburg, replaced his fellow new boy with 19 minutes remaining but had little time to make an impact.

    Jordan Hugill (West Ham)

    Came on with 11 minutes remaining and his team 3-1 down to Brighton. Went alongside Javier Hernandez in attack but barely got a touch of the ball.

    Ademola Lookman (RB Leipzig)

    The Everton forward’s loan move was questioned by manager Sam Allardyce but he announced his arrival in the Bundesliga in style with a late winner against Borussia Monchengladbach barely 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

    Ademola Lookman

    Provided by Press Association Sport 

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