Arsenal were overtaken at the top of the table by Man City after a 3-1 defeat to the reigning Premier League champions.
A pulsating and even first half ended with the teams level at 1-1, but the second half from the Gunners was not as good. There were mistakes at the back and missed chances, and goals from Grealish and Haaland sealed the deal.
Here’s how the players rated this evening.
Read the Arsenal 1-3 Man City report and see the goals here
Arsenal 1-3 Man City – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
A 5 for Tomi!?
I have to say it: 1) Xhaka is not even close good enough the level that is demanded for top tier football clubs, too slow, bad judgement and a technical level below championship. We cannot compete with him in the starting XI. 2) Artetas game management pays the price, substitutions have been really bad since he arrived, way too late and not anything imaginative, for example going Trossard for Nketiah or Martinelli up front and Trossard on the left, Vieira for Xhaka….. This also means that Vieira looks like a child because he have not played any minutes in the… Read more »
xhaka created the assist for the pen
How many through balls were over hit or intercepted? Top pro but doesn’t have the guile to play in that position and I think Martinellis game is suffering because of it.
… and trossard or vieira could not do that? Wake up..
All hail Henrik, master of hindsight. Mate, Arteta has been an absolute fucking revelation since he’s come to the club, and this season we’ve been fuckin excellent.
Give it a rest
Challenging his game management and selection has nothing to do with his impact on the team and there performances as a whole, no question about it, Arteta have done miracles however can develop.
But his impact on the team and there performances as a whole is as a result of his game management and selection.
Do not interrupt his emotional outburst with sensible analysis.
Xhaka was fantastic in the first half of the season. Not good enough in the second. Was especially poor today, I thought he was the worst player on the pitch in the second 45. Needs to be dropped and fight for his place in the team. At this level of performance, he offers less than fabio vieira.
Ugh, It’s so frustrating. We’ve been so good up until now, I just hope the atmosphere around the club doesn’t begin to stink because we can still win this fffing league.
Even then, His performances in the first part of the season is explained by the performances of the rest of the team, making him look good, individually he adds nothing…
I disagree, his decision making, experience and technical ability made such a difference in the first half of the season, but now he’s playing so poorly. I think he’s still a good player, but he’s out of form. At top clubs when you’re out of form, you get dropped. Simple as.
Nonsense. Utter nonsense. Wouldn’t go to war with you softies if my life depended on it.
We will win the league this year!
Worst player on the pitch? Gabrielle gave up a pen only to be saved by offside and he passed to man city to set up the second for city. Xhaka has been amazing this season. Nobody could pass on the second half. Nerves got to them. And xhaka missed not having partey, although jorginio played well.
We must be in bizarro world, because your points are the exact opposite of reality.
I think it’s quite clear that xhaka’s level has dropped mate. It’s not spoken about enough and today it stunk so bad that you couldn’t ignore it.
You’re way to extreme, along with Henrik, or at least you are using too polarizing of describers. Xhaka was better before the WC, no question, but sooo bad or soo poor? Wake up. Everyone had trouble in the second half yesterday. Yea I’d like to see viera rise to the occasion/ show something to get more than 10 mins. From what we’ve seen, I’d still prefer this xhaka in the starting 11, but agree he needs to get back on the saddle (he wasn’t the only poor player last night). I think Jorginho tried, and played prettt solidly considering. But… Read more »
Mostly bullshit
Looking for a scape goat? Cover your face in shame
Someone like him always never fails to come out and make statement like this when Xhaka is not performing well.
Xhaka’s decent but I don’t mind an upgrade on that number 8 come summer. Would really love to see Mac Allister fill up that role. Then we’ll have two players in central midfield who can dribble and break defensive lines.
I think we take Xhaka for granted. He plays almost the entire game, every game. We are willing to say Martinelli is tired and needs to be rotated, but we abuse Xhaka (or just slag him) when he has the same need to be rotated.
Blogs is merciful.
Bad mistake but he corrected. Was much better as the match progressed.
Well that sucked. Was glad we tried to play with them and are probably one of the few teams to have more possession than they did, but of course it’s about putting the ball into the net and they did that better than we did. We sorely missed Jesus and Partey, those two would have made a huge difference.
I agree they are two top players. However we do have internal solutions, Jorginho stepped up today and played well, we could play both Viera and Trossard instead of Nketiah and Xhaka and we would look a different team. I believe this is were the similarities are becoming real between Arteta and Pep, they first and foremost prioritise what they define as “no risk taking”, meaning Arteta would never ever play anyone in a position where he are not convinced they are suitable for or ahead of anyone that is named Xhaka….
Fucking hell Henrik – Xhaka’s played every game this season and helped bring us top of the league and you’re here whining about how “we can’t compete with him in the team”. If anything today he just looked super tired from those exertions which yes is worrying but fuck me to just lay into him like this in the middle of the season we’re having? What part of what you’re doing feels like “supporting” to you? I get that this feels like the end of the world my guy and I can sympathise with the emotion, but these are the… Read more »
Well said
Sorry but such fkn bullshit. Tomi had the worst game of his Arsenal career (a 5 blogs?!?! 1 more like…), Gabriel was dreadful, Eddie is turning into old Eddie again and Martinelli/Odegaard did absolutely zero and yet you go after Granit???! Catch a grip mate.
I think.Martenelli’s struggles are due to the absence of Gabriel Jesus. With Zinchenko coming inside and joining centrally has had adverse effects on his play and therefore I’mpacted his overall confidence.
and not giving Martinelli the ball quick enough. I cant count how many times a game he is in space and either Zinchenko or Xhaka check back two three times before finally giving it to Marinelli.
I think that is also explained by Jesus’ absence. Jesus is a much more dynamic mover when we have the ball in the midfield and drags defenders with him which gives Martinelli more space out wide for a pass. Nketiah is just more static.
People keep repeating this, but it doesn’t explain why he’s fallen off in his personal duels and take-ons.
Is it possible the boy’s a bit tired considering the number of games he’s already heavily featured in for the season?
A 5% drop off in the Premier League is very significant—considering the elite levels of most participants.
He’s more than earned a rest
Really miss Jesus. He links and creates. Always felt nketia not at level required. Nice young man but need cannot win leagues with a striker of his quality.
Feels like an age ago when Eddie put two past United, some even questioned whether Jesus would get back into the side. Unfortunately, he’s now dropped 3 stinkers in a row. How Arteta manages this drop in form could very well determine the course of the season.
Martinelli misses Jesus even more
He’s not been the same since the World Cup…needs a spell on the bench.
The Angel Gabriel needs his Jesus next to him….
You summed it up perfectly, Nketiah has performed better than we probably expected, but he looked overawed against City, the pressure got to him, and indeed, probably half of our team. The real positive with Eddie, is that, he finds really good positions and hopefully he will learn from this game. The “difference” was that City had 2 world class players playing and we had only Saka, ( who is becoming world class). We are still a relatively young team and we can only improve, I think that we should try Martinelli down the middle, because without Jesus, he is… Read more »
we need to galvanise the play on the left, until Jesus returns as Saka cannot carry the whole team.
Either KT, for Zink or Zink to stop drifting in the middle,
Trossard for Eddie as a starter or sub.
Trossard for Xhaka when we are going for broke.
We’ve tried Martinelli down the middle before and the results were underwhelming
Remind me… when can we expect Jesus back? Love Eddie. But I think it’s clear that our overall offensive needs his power
Think we need to let Jesus take his time and recuperate at the normal pace. I am afraid that this poor run of results will make us hasten his recovery process (like we used to do with Partey)… leading to recurring injuries.
As much as I am DESPERATE to have him back in the line-up, I’d much prefer he is not rushed back.
Around Easter
Brilliant
Yes… he will rise again.
In the meantime though, let’s not crucify Eddie, lads.
Or be a Doubting Thomas
This response needs more love.
There was a period in the 2nd half where we passed it out from the back and City were running in circles..so brave…from kids….this is only the beginning folks…have a good one
Screw it! One to the next one! We will win the league i am sure. We will beat them at their home to win the title I am sure! Regroup, Villa 3 points next. Let’s goooooo! COYG
Gabriel simply isn’t good enough to play this specific game. Hopefully a year from now Kiwor will be.
It’s nerves… the midfield wasting possession and putting us under unnecessary pressure doesn’t help either. Arteta needs to figure why our players are losing their shit every time something goes a little wrong. It’s fucking toxic and needs to be stamped out now, else we get drawn back into a top 4 race again.
“our players are losing their shit every time something goes a little wrong” – the very same can be said about our fans.
I thought Gabriel was really really awful. He just can’t see to cope with the bouncing ball at all
He was absolutely shite. As was Tomi. Fuck me get Ben back in there asap.
For the record, that’s “was”, not “is”. I like Gabriel and I’m certainly not one to throw out the baby with the bathwater (i.e. I’ll certainly be keeping the faith), but I’d love to hear the opinion of anyone who disagrees with the original point.
I can think of several times just off the top of my head that Gabriel not dealing with bouncing balls properly has cost us or very nearly cost us goals this season.
Something for him and the coaching staff to work on, that’s all
Soon as Tomi got a yellow I was thinking put on benny blanco – who i though looked good when he came on….around when Akanji came on we needed some more energy. Jorginho is a smart player, like him a lot, not cause of him we lost the game, but Partey’s ability to bypass the midfield is unique, and his Lobster-like legs in the duels.
Lobster-like legs!🤣 that exoskeleton might explain all the injuries!
Jorginho was worth way more than a 6, our MOTM without doubt. I don’t give a shit that he used to play for Chelsea.
Jorginho Saka and Saliba were our best 3 players.
Totally agree. 👍
Yep – see my comment about youth vs experience. Jorgie was one of the few old heads on that pitch tonight and it showed. We were NOT comprehensively outplayed… simply ‘out-experienced’ and ‘out-waited’ by a supremely confident, patient group of seasoned winners who just stuck to their pattern and seized on the precious few errors we made.
This was bound to happen at some point in a long season. It will probably happen again. It’s how we bounce back that will define this ‘new’ Arsenal.
I truly believe we the manager, and the players, to take this title.
Viera, btw the way was rubbish
In his 7 mins + injury time? 9 touches, 4/5 completed passes. Yeah… Vieira’s fault! Nice to get a scapegoat in place though, good stuff.
Not rubbish, but he feels light-weight for the Premier League.
This lightweight thing is such lazy thinking.
I’m not so sure. I always remember the era where Wenger went for small tricky players and abandoned pace and power.
It is up to Vieira to prove otherwise and I’m happy that he has a season to acclimatise.
Very little is said of a player’s physique if he performs well
He hasn’t looked convincing as a sub in any match in recent memory.
Have to disagree, i think he looked good when he came on against Everton as he moves the ball on quickly and injects pace into our team.
What’s happened over the last few matches is our lack of rotation as caught up. Our regulars are looking tired and our replacements are looking off the pace. It’s time for Trossard, Vieira etc to start a few matches.
Mindless, ignorant comment.
Can we at least agree that Jorgino did well in the middle as understudy to Partey ? Individual errors lost us that game pure and simple !
He’s not an understudy, but a fully fledged international who played a good game today. He may not be as good as Partey, but doesn’t need to learn the role from anyone.
He’s also won considerably more trophies in his career than Partey
💯
Those ratings are a bit harsh. We matched them for most of game. Missed the big chances. Confidence not quite there. Defensive errors. Eddie needs heading practice, will improve. Would like Odegaard to really step up in a big game. Missing Jesus and ESR.
Ode has a tendency to go missing in the biggest of games.
He has been off the pace recently (like most of the team) but I suspect he’s the victim of the incredibly high standards he set for himself in the first half of the season
Missing in the biggest games? Except for man u, spurs, liverpool and Chelsea?
We had an 8-point cushion before our bad run of games. That ‘allowed’ us to mess up. After these run of bad games, now we have one last cushion which is our game in hand. We go again against Villa, and see how it goes from there.
Either way, this Arsenal project is not 100% complete. We’re just ahead of schedule fighting for this title but I understand the disappointment. Still 16 games left to play for, and I’ll back my manager and team till the end and beyond. COYG
Excellent post!
Troodat!
Unfortunately this game just highlights how important Partey is to our team. The most important player by far. And also..even though fans won’t like this because they are popular players…Tomi and Nketiah are just mid table players / squad players. Not players good enough for 1st place premier league starting XI
Dude last year Tomi was one of the best right backs in the league, he made a couple mistakes tonight, but didn’t do too bad against Grealish
He didn’t do too bad against grealish?! Eh?!! Did you see the first goall?!!
Yeah he is just a consistent player and looked good when we were shit last season. Ben White improved us dramatically in that position
lol tomi is one of the best rbs in the league you deluded wanker
Short memories round these parts. Remember Tomi completely nullifying Mo Sallah at the Emirates (albeit at left back)?
Those were about right. We weren’t awful. And certainly during the first half looked better than in any of the last 3 matches.
But there’s a gap. City are where they have been for a reason. They capitalized when it mattered, and aside from the Sake pen, we didn’t.
Need Jesus back. And maybe start Trossard and send in Martinelli in the second half against tired legs.
Today’s biggest disappointment for me was Arteta. It started with the city cup game. We looked knackered with a third of the game gone. Still no rotation!!! It’s been one of his failings. When and how to rotate. Ben white was played to the point of exhaustion. Partey is glass so needs better management. Just change up or figure out a different way to utilise the bench but if that can’t happen what are they even doing on the bench then. Today’s game we had so many brain farts in the second half you could tell the goal was coming.… Read more »
That feels like a somewhat begrudging 6 for Jorginho, thought he was our best player overall. Also think Xhaka’s score is a little generous. His redemption arc has been amazing but the last 3 games have really exposed his deficiencies in the final third. There’s been a lot of criticism and concern about Martinelli but I do think part of that has been the inability of Xhaka (and to a lesser extent, Zinchenko) to find him when he’s in acres of space.
Lack of link up play on the left
I’d be interested to see Zinchenko take Xhaka’s spot and start Tierney at LB
Spot on!!
Tierney must be frustrated about what he has to do to start.
A frustrated Glaswegian is a dangerous thing to be confronted with.
Even Gabriel, many a time Gabriel take 2-3 touches before getting the ball up to him in pace when he’s in 1 v 1 situations. He is not been utilized well by xhaka, zinchenko and Gabriel, they dwell on the ball too much. By time he gets it the space is already gone.
We’d still be top and a game in hand without the 2 point deduction.
This was a tough one to take, but always possible without Partey. He contributes so much in both defence and attack.
I’m clinging on to the fact that with 16 games to go we’re level with City with a game in hand and 12 clear of 5th with a game in hand – a position we’d have ripped anyone’s arm off for at the start of the season. We peaked higher than we ever thought we could in the first half of the season and our form is heading back towards our mean (like most of us suspected it would at some point). We’ve got to re-focus on the task in hand and maybe just may be our relative lack of… Read more »
I understand the disapointment but the ratings are way lower what they deserve. First half was on fire and we rather did arsenal on ourselves than City got the better of us.
Btw, Trossard should have a pen..?
Martinelli has really been poor lately. I can’t remember the last time he made a productive contribution in the opponents 18 yard box. He needs to take a break i reckon.
We need to do get the full backs overlapping more and getting more balls into nketiah. That’s his game, he’s not a Jesus.
That’s the game against Everton, Brentford and Villa. City has KDB and Harland,
Yes that’s what I mean. We were fine tonight but gave them 3 goals, it wasn’t the battering we usually get
Eddie got 2 great crosses which he both headed wide. His movement to lose his marker was brilliant on both occasions, but unfortunately his finishing wasn’t
Poor by Arteta again. What’s the point of taking Martinelli off when 5 minutes later you are forced to bring Vieira in? Third game in a row that happens, and it’s clear that strategy doesn’t work.
Who laughs last laughs best … but that one was really discouraging. Still, hope remains and hopefully the team can pick itself up.
I got slated a while back when I said Zinchenko plays too slowly at times, I’m glad a Blogs agrees to this. I feel sorry for Martinelli, our play is too heavy on the right side. Loads of times Martinelli was in space to recieve the ball, however the ball was played side ways and everything slowed down. And that’s something that frustrates me, the zip in our game has gone since post December. Nketiah is a good cover for a few games, but in the long run he’s not the top quality player Arsenal want with where they’re aiming… Read more »
Just a few short laps of the goldfish bowl ago and there were many asking ‘How is Jesus going to get back into this team when he’s fit?’
This result stings but it doesn’t kill our title chances. We are still very much in the hunt. May be better for us to be chasers rather being chased. If we do what we are capable of over the next 16 matches we will be champions. In truth, the Brentford result and Lee Mason robbing us of three points is just as significant as today’s loss. That incompetent prick needs to be fired. On a positive note, Bukayo has 34 goal involvements in his last 50 Premier League matches. He scores or assists in 70% of our matches – as… Read more »
Incompetent prick or not, Brenford were good value for their point and also had a perfectly good goal disallowed.
Eddies headers were strange. I thought you head down and go across goal. On both occasions he tried the harder finish and missed. Disappointing.
He missed three sitters.
Loved Wrighty giving ‘young Sean’ lessons on how to finish a header with eyes open, not closed. Great moment in the Sky studio.
We lost to a more matured, more wise, more experienced team. Good performance. I don’t blame no one. We move on. Gather our pieces, regroup and get on a long winning run
Be nice if we stopped trying to play longer city and move the ball quicker and attack faster like we did in the first half of the season
From one ginger to another, fuck you KDB for shoving our coach. Such a robotic, ultratalented but soulless football.
*footballer
Cheap ad hominem shot
You don’t say…
The comment on Trossard being on not long enough is very telling. The most obvious sub was to take Xhaka off and put Trossard on. Also all this reliance on Zinchenko for build up is becoming repetitive, just get the ball to Saka quickly.
Fully agree – should’ve happened in the last game(s) as well. Xhaka is tending to look leaden-footed later in games (and he ain’t the fastest nag in the stable to begin with!). Mik needs to make earlier, more inspired substitutions, I reckon… all a bit too predictable of late.
Very timid offensively. Two clear as day headers and weren’t even on target… not good enough.
A lot of us were calling for Tomi to start today. Shame it went like that for him. We need a bit of freshness in the team now. Eddie has lost his magic touch so Jesus coming back is beginning to feel more important and Martinelli needs a rest. I think we need to be using Trossard from the start of games for the moment and we’re missing having ESR as an option too. Still, heads cannot be allowed to drop. We need to remember how it felt last season to lose something that was within our grasp. That has… Read more »
Arsenal’s priority in the summer must be a top striker. A better striker than Nketiah tonight, and the story might have been different. A player of his quality can’t lead the line for any of the other top 6 sides in the EPL.
Should we sign the top scorer in ligue 1? And you think the other top 6 sides have a better backup striker than Eddie?
MA has been found out.All the opposition had to do is let Arsenal try to weave a way through 2 lines of MC defenders
Whe n Grelish and Hloland scored they had time and space in contrast to the gunners.
Thd gunner attack is slow and predictable.Arteta better watch how other teams score
Until this changes,I doubt they canwinthe epl
Didn’t realise we were playing Holland… no wonder it was tough.
Obvious that eddie’s not good enough. Also dont like it that he smiles every time he misses. Martinelli has no form and should be dropped for trossaud asap. Xhaka may need a breather if zinchenko plays, since zinc takes up the CM spot, we can afford a more attacking CM, like vieira.
Would you rather he remain curled up in the foetal position at a corner flag after missing a chance?
Or sit cross-legged in the goal mouth Gallas style?
Not viera…team is crying out for a fully fit ESR to play again
We are light up front. I cannot see why we didn’t bring Balogun back from his loan spell. Eddie needs a break and there’s no one to support him. Martinelli has lost his form. Smith Rowe is still not fit yet we have one of the most in form strikers in Europe on our books and we didn’t bring him home for squad depth
I reckon they are weighing up the value in allowing Flo to really profit from his purple patch in France. A few more months and it may pay far greater dividends in the long term – we’ve probably already clinched CL football for next season and, let’s be honest, the tile would be a fantastic bonus, but this is a long-term project And Flo is part of that. Imagine if he’d yanked Saliba back when many were slating him about that loan, last season?!
‘title’
Let’s face it. Played a great first half other than the horrible error by tomiyasu who everyone thought needed to start over Ben White. Second half, lost composure and continued making terrible passes and silly fouls. Nketiah has reverted back to the mean of his average self. And we went from 7 out of 9 points against 3 good teams to dropping 8 out of 9. I’m not certain we can beat Villa in the early match. I really thought we would kick on after beating Man United but think we are too young to win the league this season.… Read more »
If Arsenal had Haaland instead of Nketiah, they win that game even with the errors 4 or 5 to 3. Nketiah threw the game. Why was white not chosen to start? And everyone who watches this team has been saying Martinelli needs a rest. I just don’t understand why we seemed to throw such an important game with so many poor choices. And Partey is always missing when we need him the most. Not that jorginho played poorly, he actually played better than xhaka today. Ultimately we were dreaming of a title that was never meant to be even possible.… Read more »
We don’t have Haaland and Partay doesn’t get injured on purpose so what’s your point? No pressure: no diamonds. You know that winning titles was once a learning experience for City right?
I think a problem we have is we just go toe to toe with City all the time and other big games. Its why we conceded 2 to Liverpool and united in games we dominated. Even today Pep tried to change and cede possesion. We have the perfect team for Counter attacking football. Maybe they have been trying but Arteta needs to be more flexible. Wenger fell into that same trap.
Title race is never without ups and down.. high hopes and then crushing those hopes and then back up again. As cliche as it sounds, its about the character and the attitude of the team now more than ever. I hope this loss doesn’t derail those cuz we are still fucking fighting neck to neck! We are in the race and we are here to win it! lets back our boys cuz they have been fucking brilliant! Comon Gunners, this is just a part of title race routine!
So here’s the thing: much as the results SUCKS, I really… really wouldn’t read too much into it. What we saw tonight was NOT our team being utterly schooled by a better, more skillful one. It was simply the plucky youngsters coming up against an older, far more seasoned group, who simply took a deep breath, stuck to what they know best and then took their (few!) opportunities. This game was truly decided on the turn of a few key seconds in both final thirds… we, on one hand, failing to put away at least 3 ‘gimme’ chances; City, pouncing… Read more »
Nerves. Our whole game summed up in one word. There’s a cost to being the youngest team in the league.
Trossard not on long enough to rate 😂😂😂
Only the 3rd defeat (that too against the reigning champions) and the haters within are ranting as if we are done and dusted.. We are level with a game in hand.. Cheer up the lads and be with them through thick and thin…We are where we didn’t think we would be at the start of the season…COYG..
Zinchenko looked like a player who was playing against his old club and struggled with that.
Me thinks blogs is a little harsh. Partey’s absence was decisive, this was not a good match for Jorginho to make his first start. City scored twice after ball losses on Arsenal’s half, both times after our players were not good enough at making themselves visible and playable.