After three back to back wins Arsenal’s run was finally cut short yesterday by Tottenham. In the last North London Derby at White Hart Lane, most Arsenal fans would have struggled to watch. After quite a conservative first half Arsenal did have positive spells both sides of the break but Spurs seemed to hit cruise control after two quick-fire goals from Dele Alli and Harry Kane.
Petr Cech – 8
Despite conceding twice Cech was without question Arsenal’s best player yesterday, as hard as that is to believe. Making 9 saves the 34-year-old definitely kept Arsenal in the game as much as he could with impressive saves from very good efforts by Jan Vertonghen, Victor Wanyama and more. For me, it would be hard to blame him for both goals as Kane’s penalty was very well taken along with the fact that he did well to make the first save in the lead up to Alli’s goal.
Gabriel – 5
Unlike Cech, Gabriel didn’t have as good a game. Not only picking up a booking for quite a rash challenge, the Brazilian brought down Kane to ensure Tottenham got the spot kick. Even though people have been questioning whether it was or wasn’t a penalty, Gabriel should have been smarter and not given the referee a decision to make. After what was quite a poor display it was no surprise to see him replaced by Hector Bellerin in the second half.
Laurent Koscielny – 6
There wasn’t much to say about Koscielny on the day but out of the back three he was the best performer but that isn’t saying much due to the nature of the game.
Nacho Monreal – 5
Unfortunately for Nacho Monreal and Arsenal, the Spaniard wasn’t as prolific as he has been in recent weeks. Other than picking up a booking for quite an unnecessary challenge in the second half there wasn’t much to talk about.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 6
2017 has seen the Ox’s form shoot up but yesterday that didn’t seem to be the case. His individual performance seemed quite inconsistent with good moments in the game, like when he put off Dele Alli so the Spurs man would miss, along with bad ones like his failed attempt to clear Alli’s shot which eventually hit the back of the net.
Aaron Ramsey – 6
After Cech our next best player was surprisingly Aaron Ramsey. Despite not keeping his performance level up for the whole game there were spells either side of half-time when the Welshman seemed to be Arsenal’s way into the match.
Granit Xhaka – 5
Another quiet performer on the day was Granit Xhaka. Like others, he has started to find some form in recent weeks but just didn’t seem at it yesterday.
Kieran Gibbs – 6
He wasn’t grabbing any headlines but he wasn’t terrible either, in Gibb’s second start in two games he put in quite an average performance but wasn’t one of the worst players on what was a forgettable day.
Mesut Ozil – 6
A day when our best players are supposed to turn up and this one didn’t. The German put in a very average performance for a player of his ability and was quite disappointing following a run of games where his performance level seemed to pick up.
Alexis Sanchez – 6
Like Ozil, Alexis Sanchez failed to produce the goods. Despite showing some signs of life when Arsenal were growing into the game, Sanchez didn’t seem to do much more after the two goals.
Olivier Giroud – 5
For most of the game, Giroud didn’t seem to be in sync. Not making any impact or presence on the Spurs defence the Frenchman was forced to come wide quite often which saw him replaced deep into the game by Theo Walcott.
Danny Welbeck – 7
To a lot of Arsenal fans’ surprise ‘Dat guy Welbz’ couldn’t earn himself a place in the starting 11 but came on for Xhaka just after the hour mark. He didn’t make a big impact as Tottenham were in control of the game but there were glimpses of why he maybe should have started.
Hector Bellerin – 6
Coming on for the booked Gabriel, Bellerin slotted in at right back after Arsene Wenger changed the team shape to 4 at the back. Unfortunately for Bellerin, he failed to make any impact on the game.
Theo Walcott – 6
The last throw of the dice from Wenger saw Theo Walcott come on in the dying moments of the game, but like his last substitution, it didn’t really change anything.
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