Sunderland 0 – 2 Arsenal Player Ratings by KJ
Szczesny – 6
He made a few easy saves and was commanding but almost got caught out when he headed the ball away and was caught acres away from his 6 yard box.
Chambers – 6
Again, he was very rigid and Sunderland looked to exploit our right hand side when they could. Not sure Chambers can play the RB position in the long run. And I’m very surprised by that considering I was an advocate of dropping Debuchy for Chambers when we got that 4th CB in.
Mertesacker – 7
He was a lot more solid today and I was impressed with his passing from defence and his defending near the end of the game.
Monreal – 7
He also had a strong game with a good performance at CB as well as a good 15 minute stint on the left.
Gibbs – 6.5
He was decent all game. Never really tested defensively but had to come off early because of an injury. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out for the foreseeable future.
Arteta – 8 (MOTM)
He was a very calming influence in central midfield and shielded our defence extremely well. There were rarely any chances made by Sunderland through the middle.
Flamini – 5
Didn’t do anything impressive. Just kicked a few of the Sunderland players when required and kept it very basic.
Oxlade-Chamberlain – 4
He struggled throughout the whole game. His passing was poor; he went anonymous for large parts of the game and constantly over-dribbled. He was given the opportunity to shine but hasn’t taken it.
Sanchez – 7.5
He was very good off the ball and decent on the ball. His tenacious pressing earned us the win today but we can’t rely on him to bail us out all the time. He must be pretty confused with how poor our attacking movement and passing is at the moment.
Cazorla – 5
Pretty poor all game and missed numerous good chances because he can’t hit a ball first time.
Welbeck – 5.5
He was pretty poor in attack as well. Sloppy hold up and went onto the wings far too much. Not really a focal point.
Subs:
Bellerin – 3
Struggled immensely. Just couldn’t predict what Sunderland’s attackers were going to do and they tried to exploit that for the last 15 minutes.
Ramsey – N/A
Didn’t have enough time to influence the game.
Rosicky – N/A
Same as Ramsey.