Arsenal secured a narrow win against Newcastle United today with a solid performance against Eddie Howe’s men. Here are our player ratings.
David Raya – 8.0
For his first-half performance alone, he was Arsenal’s best player in the game.
Ben White – 6.0
He is still not at the required level defensively, but he had a long injury and needs time.
William Saliba – 6.5
Arsenal faced significant pressure from the Newcastle attack in the first half and he did his best, but he appeared to have suffered an injury and did not return after half-time.
Jakub Kiwior – 7.5
He continues to show why he deserves more game time, and that tackle on William Osula was superb and potentially match-saving.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 7.0
This was another good performance from the teenager, contributing to a clean sheet.
Martin Odegaard – 7.0
He was in fine form for much of the match and was rewarded with an assist.
Thomas Partey – 5.5
Although he improved in the second half, his first-half performance was poor.
Declan Rice – 8.0
He is having a fantastic season, and his goal suggests he may eventually be deployed in a more advanced midfield role.
Bukayo Saka – 6.0
There were moments when he ran at the Newcastle defence, but this was not one of his better performances for Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard – 6.5
He and Gabriel Martinelli switched roles as they have done at Liverpool previously, but it was not productive.
Gabriel Martinelli – 6.0
He had a busy game, but forwards must deliver end product.
Substitutes
Riccardo Calafiori – 7.0
After he came on at centre-back, Newcastle struggled to get close to Arsenal’s defence.
Kai Havertz – N/A
It is good to see him back after a long injury.
Kieran Tierney – N/A
Jorginho – N/A
Wow! I think I watched a different game completely!!!!!
How does this opinion piece get to rate Saka (6.0) above Partey 5.5)?
Saka’s performances since coming back from injury have been atrocious. You need to stop sugar coating mediocrity and be fair on everyone. This whole season, including today, Partey’s role and contributions to the team make him indispensable. Saka’s relevance today is in people’s minds. We know his potential, but right now he needs to be benched.
Based on today only, I thought Partey’s performance deserved the marks he received
SueP, I concur. Thought Partey was terrible in the first half. Missed placed passes, out of position and slow getting back. Second half he was a bit better imho.
Fair dinks
Odegaard lost too many balls and apart from the assist, mispassed, passed inaccurately or passed to the sides or back. He didn’t recover any ball, didn’t pass in the tempo to Saka and White particularly. Goal.com gave him the lowest Arsenal player rating of 5. He played horrendously against Liverpool and in the 2 games against PSG. Partey while not being at his best was way more accurate and useful than Odegaard. Rice was inexistant in the first half and his goal shouldn’t mask his poor first half performance.
Rajo
T.Party imo offers very little bar taking up a team space.
Not sure why.ma keeps persistently keeps having him in the team
Going forward he hasn’t got the legs and it would be interesting how many forward passes he makes compared to side and back ones
His legs are gone so he can’t get back quick enough
When we are in a.low block he is perfect for the role as he doesn’t have to venture to far.
I do think MO has had a stinker of a season compared to last season but would take him all day long over TP
Hopefully we get a major upgrade on TP this transfer window. Don’t mind him as a bench player but the days of being a starter has to be finished
Well Can’t go upwards or down wards now, but we can keep going onwards
In the first half Rice was anonymous but after his great goal i might have elevated him to a 7. To me Kwior was our outstanding player on the day and Calafiori impressed when he took over from Saliba who had a very steady first half.White struggled defensively against the very quick Gordon but did well on the front foot .Lets hope Saliba and Timber are not seriously injured as we have had more than our share this season.On a personal note, one of the highlights of the match to me was the tremendous reception afforded to Tierney on what will be his last home match for Arsenal.He has been a credit to our Club and i wish him the very best on his return to Celtic.
Don’t we all Grandad
Tienry represent what every Arsenal fan would like to see from our players.
Sad to see the lad leaves but it is what it is.
Let’s give the manager a solid 9.5. When your GK is the “best” Player on the pitch, the manager deserves credit. And the same NU dumped us out of the league Cup too and we beat them convincingly. We got our Arsenal back.
Arteta will make Arsenal great again!
I’m trusting the process.
The Shola Reality Show,
Your sarcasm never lets me down. 😂🤣😉👍
Credit to MA for giving Tierney and Jorginho the chance to bow out on the field.
If every football player had the same ethics as Tierney, the world would be a better place.
I think Saka needs a long summer rest from football, as does Partey, although I wonder if outside influences are behind the latter’s performance today
Raya’s distribution was awful and some of his saves were from his mistakes in the first place.
Havertz got a hero’s homecoming welcome, then proceeded to do nothing special, but only to be expected.
Kiwior was exceptional, as was Califiori when he came on.
The reception that MA received must surely show that the majority of fans are still backing him and the same goes for Odegaard.
A mention for the referee, who officiated in a consistent manner (10/10).
This lad Gordon!! What a nasty piece of work he is!!
Trying every trick in the book to get fouls and our players yellow carded, but the referee was having none it.
The crowd was nervous, but noisy and, bar a miracle, we finish second for the third season running.
The players left everything out there today and a good eight for the team effort.
Interesting to read your review Ken1945 and pleased the home support appreciated the manager, coaching staff and players
I thought the first half was pretty grim, but the second made amends.
It was grim as an Arsenal fan, but I interesting to watch Newcastle’s style of play.
Reminiscent of years gone by, with two tall, dominant CB’s in a back four… no inverted rubbish either side and a keeper who didn’t think he was part of the midfield!!
Credit to MA though and, just like the liverpool game, his halftime talk led to a much better all round performance.
What’s relief the three points. It was an important game so full credit to the manager and his players.
Mechanical and efficient, nothing more.
This win is for the gaffer, it would have strengthen his hands when sitting down with the new Sporting director on transfer matters.
I agree on Saka that his form has been poor since returning and another thing that is really starting to irritate me is the way he keeps falling to ground so easily think he is trying to take jack grealish crown as the new Tom Daily!
It just shows how we all see things so differently and whilst I rate Raya as a 9 or even a 10 when it came to the fantastic saves he made, limiting the score to 0-0 at half time when we could easily have gone in 3-0 down, for his distribution and putting us under the pressure he’d rate as a 3 or 4 in my opinion. Partey was dreadful and in his head he was already partying on his summer break. Skelley, whilst very good going forward is primarily a defender and as usual got caught out of position umpteen times. Kiwior gets a top rating from me as does Calafiori for them both stepping seamlessly for both Gabriel and Saliba.
Agreed about Raya
Can’t agree with MLS, he can’t be playing in midfield and expect to be in an actual LB position for a counter attack at the same time. It’s 100% a tactics issue
He might be a better midfield player(his natural position) but he’s currently playing at left back, but when going forward in his inverted role is not getting back to cover where he should be when our attack breaks down. We