Arsenal player ratings v Sheffield United -man of the match finally proving his worth

Arsenal earned a second consecutive win as they reached the FA Cup semifinal with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sheffield United.

The win wasn’t easy against a United side that has already taken four points off the Gunners this season in the league.

A combination of fine performances from a number of our players got us the win, here is the Arsenal player ratings.

Emiliano Martinez – 7
Another fine day for him. Didn’t have much to do for a majority of the game and could do nothing about their goal. But he made two fine stops and his distribution was impressive.

Shkodran Mustafi – 5
Was all over the place at the back and was aided by Arsenal’s team defending. Made one crucial block later in the game.

David Luiz – 6
Gave a better performance than in most of his games and didn’t commit any of his usual errors. Couldn’t finish the game, hopefully, he won’t be sidelined for long.

Sead Kolasinac – 4
Horrible decision to play him as part of the defence. Struggled to stay connected with his fellow defenders and showed his confusion by making a poor clearance that led to Sheffield United’s goal.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 6
Made a fine impression with his concentration. Connected well with Nicolas Pepe and made sure Sheffield United didn’t get any joy down the flank.

Joe Willock – 6
Grew into the game and began to help Arsenal expand the play with his passes to the wing. Seemed to struggle with his decision making in front of Sheffield United’s goal, but he will only get better.

Granit Xhaka -6
Gave another assured performance in the Arsenal midfield. He was always available to link the defence to attack and made sure that the ball was moved at the right speed. He adds urgency to Arsenal’s play.

Kieran Tierney – 7
One of his best days in an Arsenal shirt. He controlled the left-wing for the Gunners and continually put in dangerous crosses that should have led to at least one goal.

Nicolas Pepe – 8
Apart from taking his penalty to perfection, he was constantly an outlet for the Gunners on the right and gave Sheffield United’s defenders plenty of work to do.

He is getting better and will prove to be a great signing at this rate.

Alexandre Lacazette – 5
Did well to get the penalty. But he struggled to link the play between himself and other players. Didn’t press as much as Eddie Nketiah does.

Bukayo Saka – 5
Pushed Arsenal forward well. But Tierney had better use of the left-wing for this game, but he still showed his class on the few occasions that he touched the ball.

Substitutes

Rob Holding -6
Continued his fine form from Southampton. Won every aerial ball that he could and made sure that Sheffield United didn’t get the goals they wanted when they dominated the game.

Eddie Nketiah – 6
Has so much desire and hunger for goals and he gave Sheffield United plenty problems with his pressing as he came on and played a key role in the buildup to the goal.

Dani Ceballos – 6
Took his goal well, and he made sure Arsenal still kept possession for as much as they could when he came on.

Sokratis – Not long enough to get a rating.

Ratings from Ime

Tags arsenal player ratings

37 Comments

  1. My MOTMs are Martinez and Ceballos. Martinez was very stable in the back and Ceballos’ cool shot won us the game

    I agree that Pepe seems to work better with Maitland-Niles, as compared with Bellerin

    1. Martinezs distribution is just superb.And i think if MA is to successfully bring the system of his master he needs a ball playing keeper

  2. AMN was the standout player,we were attacked from the right flank in our previous games but today we were a threat on that flank.Him and pepe have cool chemistry.Ceballos,saka struggled a bit today,i can understand that saka is veey tired probably….and also Ceballos good for him….

  3. Super ratings, Ime.
    I really, really like Tierney.. and not just because he turned up with his gear in a Tesco carrier bag!! Bless him! He’s gonna be the real deal!!
    Been impressed with Martinez, since he came in…
    Was really disappointed with my boyfriend…
    Pepe looked good, keep it up. Great penalty!
    And Dani boy, what a goal!! 👍

  4. I also think Holding miss the header that lead to goal. I also think we are building confidence gradually. This year FA Cup is going to be interesting henceforth

  5. AMN and Tierney were very good at wing back and in Martinez we have another impressive keeper.

  6. Wont be worth watching the semi final city will absolutely destroy us them just playing in 3rd gear will be enough for them to win comfortably!!

    1. We’ll concede within 6 seconds and lose 30-0. If any team can whip us into submission, it be city.

    2. 8 teams have shown they’re beatable this season, unfortunately we’re not 1 of them 😂, but you never know… anything can happen in football…. we’ll have to get KDB on the lasagne 😜

  7. I also thought that to blame Kolasinac for their goal is harsh, as Holding (I believe) missed the cross completely and kol had no space to clear the ball.

    1. Exactly Ken. Holding jumped too soon and left Kolasinac with very little reaction time. That ball should not have reached Kolasinac’ feet at all.

  8. Mustafi had another good game cannot for the life of me work out how you think he was all over the place and how on earth did he only get 5 !! for me a 7 at least !! because you do not like a player doesn’t mean you score it because of your dislike !! The guy is just getting better and better !! as for giving Pepe 8 that is just biased again !! 7 is all he deserved good game again and proving doubters wrong !! for me Saka was man of the match and got my 8 !! another impressive game and playing in the middle of the park !! just a talented young player !!

    1. Go back over our previous ratings and check our Pepe and Mustafi scores before you throw around the word biased

  9. AMN was more than 7 today. He was doing well job defensively as well as he tried to push forward, Pepe played better when AMN is there.

    Mustafi deserves more than 6 and Luiz 4 -5 !

    Kolasinac was 6 because he is solid defensively but I think Tierney was the best!

    Ceballos waiting on the bench actually paid off well!

    Guys, did anyone watch Kessie – AC Milan player? I think he can be a better option to us!

  10. I like pepes game, much more because i saw him helping in the defense…anyway, he is too much one footed, and that was pretty obvious in our second goal…if he can’t work on that, he would never be the world class player that can change a game we are crying for, like Alexis was for us

  11. Guendouzi out again btw…i hope he stay with us and grow up as the player he could be…if we let him leave, we Will regret that as when we let gnabry leave

    1. Lugdush Guendouzi asked the board for a transfer the board said you are going Nowhere staying put so MA has to coach him

  12. OT.. Gervinho (or as I always used to call him – the goal machine 🤣) has scored against Inter… 😳

  13. Arsenal still can’t defend how Mustafi got a 5 is beyond me. Arsenal were all over the Place. I really don’t see any change since Wenger left.

  14. All remaining game we have to play 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 give more time Maitland niles even if we don’t have good qualities to fill that system

  15. Higher ratings than I expected. It was better than even our 2-0 win against Southampton, but another game we struggled to finish off, struggled to create chances, and let in a cheap goal. There are def positives though, and I thought Tierney and AMN were great. Besides for that, mixed bags around the pitch. Pepe and AMN do work better together, but over the 90 minutes Pepe struggles greatly getting himself stuck into games. Lack of creativity in midfield continues to hamper us as well, and Pepe had a chance to score an easy 2nd goal in 1st half that should’ve made this game way more comfortable. If we are gunna be this shoddy at defending we need attackers that are clinical, and I dont feel like we have that reliable player. Even Auba at times can pull an Aguero where he needs tons of chances to actually score, but Aguero at least has a crazy ton of talent to give him those chances. Also, the huge negative is that we still have a defense taht will totally lose concentration at random times and concede. Still, it’s our best game since coming back, but it still leaves the burning questions about Arsenal’s next performance, which can easily be another Brighton when we have players that switch off so easily.

  16. well i picked out three contenders for man of the match. firstly,brady , then hudson, and finally ball. their inter play was just outstanding all match.hudson, for me, was man of the match, but, his gold necklace kept getting caught in the sunlight, blinding. sorry guys and gals, i am just about to climb the walls here, lol,so i took my mind off the job in hand and decided to be silly, once again !!.

  17. Am surprised b’se how can Holding get 100% aerial ball clearance against southampton then fails to clear the other ball

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