Arsenal moved to within 5 points of fourth spot with a dramatic 1-0 win over West Ham at the Emirates this afternoon.
It was far from convincing from Mikel Arteta’s men, and West Ham did spurn glorious opportunities, but a late goal from substitute Alexandre Lacazette was enough to take all three points.
The goal was awarded after a lengthy VAR check for offside, but it’s now three consecutive wins in the Premier League, and six from our last eight games in all competitions.
Read the Arsenal 1-0 West Ham report and see the goals here
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Ratings
The ratings are now 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 Bernd Leno. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
I though Mari played well. It’s a game of opinions I suppose.
I agree. Ffs blogs – it was him premier league debut, he looked calm under a lot of pressure and I don’t recall him giving the ball away like Luis,Xhaka and Cebellis did. A solid debut from a good prospect in my book.
I have alway liked what I see from Cebellis and I really liked it today. He’s the one guy really making things happen both defensively and in transition. I hope we figure out how to keep him.
Just came here to say I like Cebellis too!
Much better than the other guy Cellabasie!
too many fat fingers on my iphone! 🙂
Your Iphone has fingers??
If every one of those other players was new would he deserve a better rating than them? There’s clearly a significant bias for new players because we know nothing about their flaws but have a whole load of hope that they will be massive success. Anyway, 6 is not a poor rating for a team performance like this. You can disagree politely but probably doesn’t merit a “ffs”
Yes Ceballus – Man of the Match for me
Within the first 5 minutes he tried to strong arm Antonio & fell on his arse then from the ensuing through ball he let Antonio run clear on goal. West ham should have scored.
hopefully things get better with him but he is going to get rinsed a lot by anyone with a little bit of speed. Also he lost a lot of his aerial duels with Haller.
I thought he was fine, but exposed v early on for a chance West Ham should have taken. That’s what I mean about getting used to the pace of the Premier League.
“Slower than BFG”? 😀 naaah
Unnecessary tackles
everyone slated luis for not heading the ball clear i watched that today and must say he did good so many headed clearances
Some dodgy ratings Blogs – have to agree. Mari had one (or possibly two) nervy moments but it’s his FIRST PL game, fore Pete’s! You rate him equal to Xhaka who – apart from a handful of trademark long laser passes – had a poor-ish game: slow, misplaced passes (a number of which were crucial!), still tends to default to the reverse pass, killing our momentum. Luiz – you concede he was ‘not doing as much as he should’ but then rate him above average? (5.5). He was nervy and inconsistent – one of those games where the collective sphincter… Read more »
Hairy muff!
I had had a few by half-time, so perhaps I’m not the best judge anyway 🙂
The hate on Luiz is hillarious. The guy is so solid. Playing with whoever, on either side. Had to cover for Sokratis a lot becase he was running around mostly out of his RB hole. Even on objective stats, Luiz dominates.
If anything there are not enough constructive critique against him. He does mistakes regularly. The difference is that when Mustafi does a mistake it looks very obvious (similiar to mistake which Mari did in the first half when he went for the ball instead of tracking back). Luiz just backs off and does nothing. That is why so many of his mistakes go unnoticed because they are not “flashy”.
Luiz did nothing? Mate if anything that was Luiz’s best moment in my book. It was a two on one, Antonio of all people running at you in full pace, and Luiz closed the angle down brilliantly, leading to a poor square ball from Antonio to Haller. Which kept the scores at 0-0. What did you expect? Luiz to chase Antonio down?
You echo my sentiment entirely. I also thought Ozil’s Mark was unfair too. He worked half and it’s a pity no one took advantage of some of the great passes he made. Still he got an assist
Do take your ozil wanking geal and leave us be
I thought Luiz was outstanding today. A real captain on the pitch. Dictating play from the back, bossing the rearguard, finding long passes, heading the ball to safety, constantly tricking the opposition, and getting the ball forward. Whereas Xhaka and Ceballos were – to the contrary – slowing things down. Very different ratings indeed! 🙂
Luiz is good defender on his day, but we have seen the number of off days he can have on the field. The Olympiakos match , a charged up Luiz would have not let the goals he did in that match. His inconsistency is what makes me go grrrr about him. For us to progress and have some consistent result behind us, he is not the defender we can rely upon. I like him, on his day he can be the best, but even he admitted under Emery he didnt feel like giving his best, he did so at start… Read more »
Classic one-nil to the Arsenal. And Spurs trailing at Turf Moor. I sure missed Saturday kickoffs like this.
one-all now… damn… but burnley dropping points is also good i guess
We were quite poor today tbh but 3 points is all that matters. Leno MotM for me, he deserves more credit considering the amount the chances we’re giving up to the opposition.
Agreed. Especially since Leno’s teammates did little to protect him on corners.
I don’t think we were that poor, West Ham gave us a good game and under Emery, we would have folded.
“… but we can all see how he struggles to do anything beyond the halfway line. Hit the bar with a header.” Understand the point, yet the order of the sentences is still quite funny! Besides that, as stated elsewhere, we just need way more from midfield. More quick thinking, more directness and definitely more goal contribution, be it goals or assists. As much as the questions can be asked about the forward line, I think the key to it all lies primarily in midfield. That being said, would still like to see Aubameyang spear-heading our attack. Would love to… Read more »
Burnley all over the Spuds and their ‘golden generation’.
Our worst squad in decades (according to many) might end up above them tonight at this rate.
Hopefully I haven’t jinxed it.
Bugger
only 15 more assists and Ozil will get level with De Bruyne. Pure class!
Oh, no, time to stop comparing Kevin with this flop, please!
A flop. He has been our most creative player with 52 assists just one less than De Bruyne. Since Arteta has taken over, Ozil has been great as he was today
Imagine how many goals Aubameyang would have on City! Yikes.
Auba wouldn’t start at City.
I struggle to see your point
I think Sheffield would love to have him.
He’s a better player than Jesus, it wud be very tight between him and aquero, if you had the two you would play 2 strickers
Do you actually know ANYTHING about football?
De Bruyne 53 assists and Ozil 52. 2 great players. I thought Ozil was great today it’s done great creativity and good to his assist
to those hating the comment i apologize. it was only meant to be banter. i know that the best way forward is to get behind these players. I do genuinely think Ozil has been class for us.
Blogs, you are too harsh on the boys today.
For me the least should have a 6.5;
1) this is a london derby,
2) Arteta vs his former boss
3) The message is GRAB THREE POINTS and they did it!
My Arsenal is back.
London is red.
Up the Arse.
The great thing about ratings is they’re subjective, you can disagree, leave your own ratings, nobody dies and we have a nice Saturday because we won ?
blogs, this is the internet, your reply isn’t angry enough
I read everything on the internet as being in all CAPS with exclamation marks every 4 words.
Ugly game. BEAUTIFUL 3 POINTS
Also did anybody else feel like VAR was taking forever because they were trying to find ANYTHING they could to not give the goal to Arsenal!?!?!
Same for me. When they were showing all the lines of playing between VAR it was obvious Ozil was a few millimeters behind. And they kept to going and checking for another four five times. Actually the last defender had his hand stuck out which makes the line even further.
But in the end VAR worked so it’s a net positive that VAR exists.
You know a hand doesn’t matter for the offside rule?
Haha, that’s almost word for word what I said when it was going on. I used a few pejorative terms.
I think in the end they decided that having not given a definite pen for the obvious holding of Lacazette, even PGMOL couldn’t be that shameless and had to give it…..
I don’t understand why Martinelli doesn’t get picked. Nketiah and Willock are two players who clearly need time before they can start in PL. If it’s not an issue with hard work or discipline, Martinelli should be starting on the wing, play the best striker in the league in his best position. Instead you’ve got a young kid who can’t hold the ball, and you’re best striker trying to keep the ball from rolling out of play. It’s good that we got that goal, otherwise the team selection is pretty concerning.
Your best striker *
I think we might see Martinelli against City with Auba up top as we look to use the press away from home. Nketiah deserved another start after his FA Cup goal, so Arteta rewarded him, and that meant Auba out left. West Ham weren’t going to try and pass their way gradually up the pitch, so Arteta went with three big defenders who can win the long ball, but we’ll like see Mustafi and Bellerin back in the game against City to add a little more quickness.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Martinelli gets dropped against city. He should’ve started against Olympiacos too, the only goal came due to his efforts, we could’ve won that game, who knows? Speaking of rewarding players, what did he do to get dropped in the first place? He still got some assists when he wasn’t playing great. Not too hype him up or anything, when there’s a young player with a fire in his belly, ready to take on anyone, he should be playing, simple as that. The only excuse I see is if he did a Guendouzi.
A fair point, for sure, and we all seem to enjoy watching Martinelli. I think the issue for Arteta is that Nketiah earned himself another start, and you want your captain and leading goalscorer out there, so that leaves the right wing, and Martinelli has not thrived out there. Arteta has to manage a team full of hungry players, so there will be disappointments on the bench.
I do hope he starts against City, as I think he can really press and harry a defence that loves to play the ball.
Lacazette getting another goal off the bench probably earns him the recall, but hopefully we’ll see Martinelli off the bench against City.
Assuming there are no motivation issues I would assume Arteta wants to protect Martinelli and has judged him as having been overplayed a bit. He is only 18, and his style is all action. Maybe he shouldn’t be completing 90 minutes every week, sometimes 2 times a week.
I don’t necessarily agree but that is a plausible explanation.
Yes even i wanted Martinelli to start. At times wanted him in place of Pepe like Blogs pointed out, with Ozil cancelling him out and Papa not being ineffective beyond the half way line. But who knows Arteta is looking to give more players the chance to have a run in the squad before he makes his assessment, so he knows what he would be needing next season. Giving a run out to Nketiah (who in my opinion looks a bit nervous knowing he has to impress and probably his final chance to be in the first team squad) might… Read more »
Laca’s getting going. We need him.
Harsh on Luiz who did ok and generous for Xhaka who was very poor
I thought Xhaka was bad. So many bad passes in that second half I lost count.
Xhaka is the best midfielder in the PL at breaking up play. Shame it’s for breaking it up for his own team
His passing was off today but as a defender he did very well
We should definitely try and sign Ceballos, he’s bedding in well now. Not much hope for Wednesday, but it seems like the type of game Pepe might do well in, he’s much more comfortable with defenders on the halfway line. I’d like to see Aubameyang down the middle, with Pepe and Martinelli playing off him, we’re unlikely to see much of the ball, but United have shown twice this season, that you can get at City on the counter if you have pace. We’re not a very good team, but hopefully Lady Luck will shine down on us Wednesday night,… Read more »
I thought United showed today that any team can be beaten when its keeper makes two incredible errors. I’m hoping they recall Joe Hart against us.
Nketiah is a very talented young player but maybe he thinks too much about himself. Take him back to the earth to make the next step!
Very happy with the 3 points (and a clean sheet), Ozil´s match winning assist, and Laca´s goal. Dosent really care about the dodgy performens. We won and tott is struggling. I can smell St. Totteringhams day coming up. Really missed it….
You can just see how players like Xhaka limit this team- our midfield has to be one of the slowest in the league, if not the slowest.
It makes no sense at all to be making players like him mainstays in the team.. Football has moved on from the likes of Xhaka
Not sure that is quite fair — he is painfully slow, yes, but he’s currently filling a versatile position in Arteta’s set up, which is anything but out of date. I’d love to see someone else given a go, especially someone who can drive the ball forward, but Arteta knows. I do think Arteta will aim to build a much quicker midfield going forward, so hopefully that pleases.
Do you think Ceballos could play that role instead of Xhaka? Doesn’t have the same physical presence or aerial ability, and I’m not sure any of our other midfielders do either.. Just curious for people’s thoughts on that..
Always the scapegoat. He has been excellent since Arteta has joined us.
Excellent at what? The only use he has is to cover LB when Saka moves forward because in central midfield Xhaka has proven time and time again he is not a Premier League level footballer!
Are you telling me there isn’t another player who could do the same thing Xhaka does?
brill
Shouldn’t be ending things with a cough these days..
Leno is so underrated…
Too many sideways passes and taking the safe option. If Ozil is in the team to.play as a 10 then have the balls to try some incisive and forward passes and not the safe option every time. Ceballos was our best outfield.player by a mile. The rest took the safe option every time. Also if we are gonna play Pepe then look for him earlier. He was in front of where I sat 2nd half and numerous times wanted it early, didn’t get it and then threw his hands in the air in disappointment. Rant over….sorry.
I think Leno and Ceballos were the best players for arsenal…can’t understand why Arteta is not playing Martinelli….Bellerin should have started ahead of Sokratis….Our defence looked bad and our player’s lacked creativity
Is everyone going to ignore the blatant foul done done on Lacazette, which should have been a sure penalty call.
Whoever it was on the VAR duty, the club hierarchy should lodge a complaint against him.Or atleat some boo’s or chants must be created.He was almost openly biased.
Some questionably low ratings there… Especially Mari! Was organising things, looked strong… Not a good ratings day for you, Blogs.
1) Leno – at very least 3 massive saves for us today. Also some good no nonsense command of the box. 2) Sokratis – One excellent chance to score first half which he was unlucky to head onto the cross bar. We lack something though with Sokratis deployed as fullback which reflects our issue at the moment without any recognisable fullback support out wide. One does wonder if given issue back 3 with wing backs may be an option. BUT AMN clearly not done enough to convince the gaffer. Personally feel he has better raw pace to recover against some… Read more »
Honestly we were pretty lucky to win that one!! A lot of nervy moments, and all I can say is I’m glad West Ham don’t know how to shoot, and that Leno is a champion! Definitely saved our skin! 3 points is not to be sniffed at though!! And glad Laca got the goal!
Blogs, Eddie is not number 49 anymore.
Am I the only person who saw Pepe dribble through 3 West Ham defenders at the edge of the box and then miraculously end up goal side with the ball in front of him? The potentially goal scoring play was broken up by Nketiah who decided to interevene from an offside position. I’d raise Pepe’s score by .5 for that play alone and subtract that from Nketiah’s, whose actions were thoughtless and harmful in addition to being selfish.
As an aside, Blogs, the line spacing appears to be farkakte.
Oh sure, the line spacing cleans up when you submit!