A few former Arsenal teammates faced off with new clubs Lyon and Marseille on Sunday night, and they ended up being pivotal in the final result.

It wasn’t so long ago that Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were all close friends at Arsenal, but the trio all now ply their trade in Ligue 1.

Lacazette and Maitland-Niles play for Olympique Lyonnais, and they took on Aubameyang and Marseille on Sunday.

It was Lacazette who gave his team the lead in the contest, seeing his first attempted blocked before rolling over and firing in from the floor.

But it looked like Aubameyang might be about to draw his team level in the 79th minute, as he played a one-two before flicking the ball over Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes.

As the shot bounced towards the net, Maitland-Niles appeared on the scene, racing over and booting an attempted clearance up into the air.

The ball flew up and off the crossbar, before flying away to safety.

That ended up being the closest Marseille came to an equaliser, and the match finished 1-0 to the hosts. Victory for Lacazette and Maitland-Niles on this occasion.

One could have initially felt that Maitland-Niles regretted his choice after completing a summer transfer to Lyon.

After 14 league games, Lyon had only claimed one victory, and Maitland-Niles had played in very few of them.

Over the course of the next six games, that was altered as Lyon won four of them and Maitland-Niles started the final three. In January, the former Arsenal player participated in two cup victories for his new team.

Now that his team has secured a victory, Maitland-Niles ought to be winning over some skeptics.