Arsenal 2 – 0 Middlesborough Player Ratings by KJ
Szczesny – 6
Wasn’t challenged at all by the opposition. A very comfortable game thanks to our outfield players.
Chambers -7
Did well to get forward and made good passes and overlaps but never did anything spectacularly. It was comfortable for him and he’s clearly a more defensive full back than Gibbs.
Gabriel – 7
A good debut for the Brazilian. No real mistakes and made a couple of good last ditch tackles. His raw pace really aids his game.
Koscielny – 7
He was calm and composed. Played good offensive passes as Gabriel was the more defensive of the duo.
Gibbs – 8
He was our best defender today and had something to prove. He was defensively sound and aided a lot with overlapping runs as well as intelligent movement into the LW position at the edge of the box. That’s something that Monreal does regularly but not Gibbs.
Flamini – 6
Didn’t have much to do defensively and was adequate from an offensive standpoint.
Cazorla – 8.5
He was phenomenal as usual. He completely controlled the game in central midfield and kept applying pressure with his dribbles and intelligent passing. His pre-assist for the first goal was sublime.
Alexis – 7
He was pretty poor in the first half aside from his assist but stepped it up in the second half with good movement, passing and dribbling. He should’ve scored but did well to get in those positions.
Özil – 8.5 (MOTM)
He was brilliant today. Completely destroyed Middlesborough’s defence throughout the game. His skills, passing and dribbling was a different level today.
Welbeck – 7
He was okay for the majority of the game. Considering the level of the other players, you’d expect better but he’s only recently come back from injury and he’s playing out of position.
Giroud – 8
A top performance by the Frenchman. Scored both goals with supreme finishing and was a constant threat to their defence.
Subs:
Rosicky – 7
Came on and kept the tempo at a good level to prevent Middlesborough from ever really building up ahead of steam.
Walcott – 6
Came on and had a great one on one chance that he didn’t take. He’s not as clinical as he used to be, personally.
Akpom – N/A
Didn’t have enough time to affect the game.