Arsenal 5 – 0 Aston Villa Player Ratings by KJ
Ospina – 7
He was solid today. He was rarely challenged but kept his concentration and his distribution was decent.
Bellerin – 8
A very good game by the young Spaniard. He was composed on the ball and was defensively solid. He took his goal very well as well with a cool side foot outside the box.
Mertesacker – 8
Composed performance by the captain. Never looked in trouble at all.
Koscielny – 7.5
Similar to Mertesacker but there were moments where he tried to dribble out of our own box when defending and was dispossessed by Villa.
Monreal – 8
Another quality performance by Nacho. He was defensively strong and added a lot to our offence with his overlap and passing.
Coquelin – 8
He was extremely solid in the middle. Won plenty of tackles and his passing was good enough to aid us on the counter attack.
Ramsey – 6
Lost the ball a lot for me, especially in the second half. He’s just come back from injury and is clearly lacking sharpness.
Walcott – 7
Although he scored a very nice goal, he didn’t get involved enough in the play for me. There were opportunities for him to really hurt Villa but he never made the right choice.
Cazorla – 8
His consistency since the beginning of December has been outstanding. He is just the perfect midfielder at the moment. He presses, he can turn extremely quickly, he can dribble, he can pass, he can score and so on.
Özil – 8.5 (MOTM)
He was brilliant today. His passing was superb and he hurt Villa constantly with his runs from the left. His assist for Giroud’s goal was class and he took his goal extremely well. It’s good to have him back.
Giroud – 7.5
Overall, it was a good striker performance. He scored early on (although he almost lost control of the ball) and he applied a lot of pressure to Villa’s back line. They tried to play a high line against him and failed.
Subs:
Rosicky – 7
He added a bit of zip and that allowed us to really hurt Villa. He turns so quickly which allows us to counter effectively.
Akpom – 6
Decent appearance for him. Won the penalty and did use his pace effectively on the counter. A lot of refinement needed but promising stuff.
Flamini – N/A
Came on late and didn’t really have enough to do for a rating.