Arsenal scraped a 3-1 win over Sunderland at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. The result came courtesy of strikes from Joel Campbell and Olivier Giroud, who also scored an own goal to hand the Black Cats an equaliser just before half time. Aaron Ramsey netted a third for Arsenal in the dying seconds.
The victory moves Arsenal up to second in the Premier League table, two points behind unlikely leaders Leicester City and four ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who are fifth.
Our friends at top Gunners blog All Arsenal have produced a detailed article in which all of Arsene Wenger’s players have been rated out of 10 based on their performances against Sunderland. Check it out below.
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GK) Petr Cech – 7.0
The Czech international made one or two absolutely unbelievable saves, but there were a few moments of confusion with his defence. There really needs to be more communication.
RB) Hector Bellerin – 6.5
The Spaniard is showing his inconsistency a little at the moment, and there was a scary moment at the end of the game where he was caught napping – almost allowing Patrick van Aanholt in to score.
LB) Nacho Monreal – 7.0
A really solid game from the left-back at both ends. He didn’t have the best first half, but was key to our success in the second 45.
CB) Laurent Koscielny – 6.5
He gave away a foolish free kick in the first half, picking up a yellow card and leading to us conceding. He made some vital interceptions, but was reliant on his pace regularly after poor decision making.
CB) Per Mertesacker – 6.5
He was caught out several times, and really struggled with the likes of Duncan Watmore. His lack of pace is so noticeable against teams with pacy wide men who like to run in behind.
DM) Mathieu Flamini – 6.0
Flamini just doesn’t offer us enough cover, especially on the counter attack. We were constantly left exposed to the pace of Sunderland, and the Frenchman was regularly out of position and left jogging back.
CM) Aaron Ramsey – 7.0
Despite grabbing an assist and a goal late on, it was not the Welshman’s best game. He was wasteful in possession, arguably didn’t do enough defensively, and blew several great chances to score before he finally got his goal.
CAM) Mesut Özil – 8.5 (MotM)
Another fantastic performance from the German, and there was no question he was the best player on the pitch. He was neat and tidy on the ball, everything good attacking wise went through him, and he continued his phenomenal assist rate by providing the pass for Joel Campbell’s goal.
RAM) Joel Campell – 7.5
The Costa Rican was the best of our forward three in the first half, and opened the scoring with a fine goal. He worked hard all game, and this was arguably his best match in an Arsenal shirt.
Substitute: Kieran Gibbs – 6.5
He’s just not an attacking player. Did well enough when brought on however.
LAM) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – 5.5
The Ox was really poor today, and Arsene Wenger was right to substitute him. He was wasteful with the ball and put a number of poor crosses in, and really needs to work on his consistency.
Substitute: Theo Walcott – 6.5
Looked a little rusty, but made some good runs and got into some great attacking positions.
ST) Olivier Giroud – 7.0
The Frenchman endured a torrid first half, and really wasn’t at his best. His hold up play was poor, his passing was wayward, and he barely threatened Costel Pantillimon’s goal. To compound all that, he obliterated our lead with a poor own goal, swinging wildly at a free-kick with his left foot when he should have cleared it simply with his right.
He grabbed the winning goal in the second half however, heading home after an excellent move.
Substitute: Calum Chambers – N/A
Did a decent job in a more attacking role, but was barely on the pitch for any length of time.