After enjoying a blistering run of form as well as an impregnable record at home, Arsenal blew away their chances of finishing second with a pretty pathetic performance against Swansea. Here are the ratings.
DEFENSE
David Ospina didn’t have much to all game long but he should disappointed to have allowed Batefembi Gomis’ header get past him like that. 6/10
Hector Bellerin had a good game from an attacking perspective and did well to put some decent balls into the box. Shame there was no one to get on the end of them. He should have done better against Jefferson Montero in the build up to the Colombian’s assist. 6/10
Nacho Monreal balanced his attacking and defensive play superbly and quelled every threat Nathan Dyer posed. 6/10
Per Mertesacker had a simple day at the office. His distribution was quite impressive too. 6/10
Laurent Koscielny was relatively untroubled in the course of the game and swept a couple of balls well. 6/10
MIDFIELD
Francis Coquelin did his job with minimal fuss and it’s glaring that Arsenal’s balance was affected when he was substituted. 6/10
Mesut Ozil made a couple of penetrating runs but his creativity over the course of the game was quite questionable. 6/10
Santi Cazorla started in his usual deep position but he tried a couple of goal attempts that were blocked by the Swansea rearguard. The only shot that managed to get past the defenders went straight at the goalie. 6/10
Aaron Ramsey had a couple of half chances and could have done better with them. He was quite frustrating at times too. 5/10
Jack Wilshere showed some fluidity to his game and injected some life into Arsenal’s attacking play. However, there was no real penetration. 6/10
ATTACK
Alexis Sanchez was smothered on a couple of occasions and would be wondering how he failed to connect with what was undoubtedly the chance of the game. 6/10
Olivier Giroud has been poor since Thierry Henry made those comments about him and he didn’t do anything to convince the manager and the fans. Really poor showing from Arsenal’s alpha-dog in attack. 4/10
Theo Walcott showed how match rusty he has become with so many minutes out of the game as he fluffed a couple of chances that came his way. 5/10.
Do you agree with these ratings? Feel free to share yours with your comments.
Sayonara.
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