Arsenal earned a 2-2 draw against Liverpool this afternoon after going two goals behind the newly crowned Premier League champions. Here are the players’ ratings.
David Raya – 7.5
He pulled off two superb stops as Arsenal started the game very badly.
Ben White – 6.0
After a sloppy start to the game, like some of his teammates, he improved in the second half and caused Liverpool problems.
William Saliba – 5.0
He is not the same player when he is not playing beside Gabriel Magalhaes, and he was shaky in this game.
Jakub Kiwior – 6.0
As strange as this might sound, he was Arsenal’s best centre back against a strong attacking lineup.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 6.5
We wonder how he would fare against Mo Salah, and he did rather well.
Martin Odegaard – 7.0
This was a much better performance from him, especially in the second half.
Thomas Partey – 6.5
Like Odegaard, he gradually improved as the players returned for the second half.
Mikel Merino – 5.5
Even though he scored a goal, his red card spoiled Arsenal’s chance of winning the game.
Bukayo Saka – 6.0
He was not as influential as we would have loved him to be, but he was not kept quiet as well and had a few runs at the Liverpool backline.
Leandro Trossard – 6.5
Trossard improved when he swapped spots with Martinelli and played on the wings. He even provided an assist.
Gabriel Martinelli – 7.5
He was the Arsenal player who wanted to win the most, and he scored a goal for his efforts. This was a fine performance from the Brazilian.
Substitutes
Kieran Tierney – N/A
Riccardo Calafiori – N/A
Oleksandr Zinchenko – N/A
Merino has to be higher surely. Gave his all and fatigue played a role in that hapless tackle. Scored a crucial goal and won the most tackles of all Arsenal players.Has to be a 7 at least.
He got red carded mate
Costs us trying to win game
His red card is Raya’s fault. Royal should not gave pass him the ball knowing 2 Liverfool player is behind Merino’s back. I wonder when Raya can learn to read the game properly and not cause red card to his own team mate.
True..
Did the same thing to Saliba against real Madrid causing that vinicius goal.
I’m having serious doubts that the Espanyol keeper we’re looking at might be a replacement for Raya. Too many times he has given questionable passes that lead to goals.
Great comeback and resilience from the team. I was fearing another loss could see us lose the next 2 as well and fall out of the CL places
Hopefully a min of a draw against Newcastle ( though they always seem to beat us recently!) and a win against Soton ( who just drew with City ) can give us a third 2nd place finish.
OT. Can’t believe Jamie Carragher… he has been spewing against TTA leaving and saying he is tainting his legacy then saying he doesn’t like that Liverpool fans booed him ! What a joke he is… though considering he spat at a young kid I guess we should expect much from him !
Martinelli did well against an attacking side but he finds it more difficult against teams which defend deep.I would be very tempted to play him through the middle against Newcastle.Although his lack of pace was evident for the Liverpool second goal, i thought Kwior was our best defender on the day.
@Grandad, I am still yet to understand why Arteta isn’t trying Matinelli through the middle.
Imo, Trossard is better of playing from the left.
When he came in few minutes in PSG vs Arsenal UCL semi he caused them problems
I wish Arteta is bold enough to make his substitutions in time.
Martinelli and lack of pace in the same sentence?
Angelo,
Grandad was talking about Kiwior’s lack of pace. I don’t think you can question Martinelli’s pace. His decision making at times yes, but his pace I think not. 👍
@Grandad, Certainly Kiwior was our best defender, amazed at his improvement ever since he started consistent games after the injury to Gabriel.
The rating for Marino really? He scored, he didn’t stop trying and his ‘rash’ challenges were made because of his commitment to trying his hardest for the team and the situation. He was a 6.5/7 for me.
Have missed the game unfortunately. I don’t understand how we end up with Ziiny, Tierney Calofiori and MLS on the pitch? Who played right back after white sub? And how come Arteta changed Trossard with a left back, and not give an opportunity to Nwaneri, someone who can create things.
Only Arteta himself can answer that Amyy.🤦♂️
Tierney replaced White at right back. The reason for replacing Trossard was I think to defend our score and not lose.
Jax, it looked like Trossard had picked up a knock, as he was subbed straight off after the medical team had treated him.
He like a left back🤣
Really impressed with the comeback, considering the nightmare of a previous two weeks. I hope we beat Newcastle at the last home game of the season next week. COYG!
How is Skelly a 6.5 !
Apparently only 3 players better them him ?
Why do you have a problem with Skelly?
I think he better in midfield
Makes allot of mistakes at left back
All eleven Arsenal players made mistakes yesterday. I can only remember one mistake from him yesterday and it wasn’t costly. Saliba, White and Partey made more mistakes. I don’t see you highlighting their mistakes. Heck, even Calafiori who was on the pitch for a shorter period made mistakes.
If you focus on one player, you’re always going to find mistakes. For what it’s worth, MLS positioning is one of the things that changed the game for us in the second half. Fair enough if you want to keep highlighting his mistakes, but do also highlight the good things he does.
Disagree mate , ball is played over the top and he’s too far up the pitch leading to 2nd goal
Happens allot
I’m pointing him out because I think rating is high
The good things he does is going forward which is why I think he should be in midfield
I believe he is playing to Arteta’s instruction that is why he is high up the pitch.
That’s on Arteta with his inverted left back BS that has not won him any trophy.
I would still like to see him in midfield though because he is a midfielder first.
But he is doing a good job at left back at just 18 years of age and I believe he will improve as he grows older.
He can’t be doing a good job at lb
Morning
He is not naturally a LB, due to injuries For 4 and half months he has done a great job for us.. he is always going to make mistakes and some.of the top right.wing.ayers he has come.e up against he has done great
The goal was partially done to him but the back 4 has to take a hard look at them selves. Both goals we conceded were shocking .
As for merino sending off, again you have to look at at.our GK who once again gives a crazy.ball out
No excuse for the sending off as he deservd to go.
2 to go
Onwards and upwards
I think you forget how young he is, not a natural LB, and it’s his breakthrough season.
Despite all that, he’s been outstanding thus far. Made the odd mistake here and there, but who hasn’t this season! Remember how many key errors Gabriel used to make, and now he’s the best CB in the world.
Wouldn’t say he’s been outstanding
Made first League start in December and we dropped too many points in 2025 to say he’s been outstanding
Made too many mistakes to say that
Dan, he is high up the pitch because that’s how he’s asked to play. No matter who plays the inverted LB role, we will always concede the odd goal because of it. What we should be asking is whether the benefits of this tactic outweigh the risks and for me the answer is yes. Whoever plays this role plays two positions at once. They can never be perfect.
The way Arteta mitigates the risk of this tactic is having Gabriel shuttle wide to defend the left channel. Kiwior isn’t used the same way because he isn’t as comfortable as Gabriel defending wide. Rice and Martinelli also take turns covering that area. Without Rice and Gabby, we become more vulnerable.
It’s the same way Raya is used quite high compared to most keepers. His positioning provides a passing option for our CB’s when we are trying to get out. Do we concede the odd goal because Raya is positioned higher? You bet! Is the risk worth the reward? Yes!
I agreed and have been saying exactly the same but I disagree 100% with your last line. NO it isn’t worth the risk. Arteta has used and failed with about 6 LB over the last 4 years. All because it is a shit way to play and gets the LB caught out. He tried it with Partey with the same disastrous results. LB and RB should be just that.
Agree to disagree. Our best period under Arteta came in the first half of 22/23 season and the second half of 23/24. In both periods we played with an inverted LB. If it was as bad as you’re making it out to be, we’d be conceding lots of goals, yet for the second season running, it looks like we’re going to finish the season with the least amount of goals conceded in the League.
Partey is shit as an inverted RB just the same way Tierney and Kiwior aren’t great at inverting . Doesn’t mean the tactic itself is shit. He only played there because Tomi,Ben and Timber were injured.
By the way I’m not saying we can’t or shouldn’t play with a traditional left back/right back. I’m saying both are options we should be looking to use.
But teams target our LB. Knowing it won’t be there. Our low goals against is because of the way we try to keep possession from the opposition for long periods. It’s when we lose the ball trying to attack and it breaks down we let in goals. Our style makes it so we don’t let in goals at the expense of attack. Not because we are great at defending. Most of our goals against are self inflicted, not necessarily because of great attacking. There is flaws in the way we actually defend. There is no perfect solution but the inverted LB and RB makes us vulnerable.
And I disagree, Partey isn’t shit, its the way he is asked to play at RB.
I didn’t say Partey is shit. I said he’s shit at playing inverted RB.
I agree with you that there are flaws, but for me the benefits outweigh the negatives. Ideally, when the LB inverts, there should be a player rotating into that position. Usually it’s Gabriel. Sometimes it’s Rice or Martinelli. Xhaka did it so well.
Having that extra midfielder allows us to pin teams in the box. We just don’t convert the chances generated from this dominance. In yesterday’s game, MLS inverting in the second half meant Liverpool midfielders couldn’t keep up. That wouldn’t happen if it’s just 3 v 3 in the middle.
I’ll try to look at all the goals we’ve conceded this season and determine exactly how many originated from the LB area.
Even if we revert to an old school LB, we’ll still concede goals. It’s not like we weren’t conceding goals when we played with one. Sometimes you concede just because the attacker is brilliant. For instance, Mo Salah has tortured every Arsenal LB he has faced,inverted or not,including Tierney. The only guy who has managed to keep him quiet is Tomiyasu.
Reasonable ratings, although I would rate Merino a bit higher. It was his goal that gave arsenal the equaliser which is very important in the context of the game.
As his is red card though mate ?
Maybe the red card is why people are giving him a 6.5/7 . Without the red card they’d easily give him 8 or 7.5.