[Player Ratings] Five-Star Ar52nal Stun 5pur2 – Here’s How They Rated

Before i start, for any Tottenham fans reading this, i’m an Arsenal fan who writes on Football-Talk and i will make no apologies for my biased views!

We were superb today. In all departments. The second half was the best we’ve played all season in my opinion. So much hunger. So much desire to win the ball back and then get forward. This was the real Ar52nal. (Not sure if this really works but i’m gonna go with it!)

5pur2 opener was poor defending, but lets be honest, the finish was extremely lucky with the deflection the only reason it ended up in the net. Then came a typical dive from Bale. If he wasn’t British he’d get hammered by the media. Worst and most consistent diver in the league, by a mile.

So 2-0 down and you’d be forgiven to think Ar52nal would crumble given the week we’ve had. But we showed really guts to come back and completely dominate the team sitting third in the table. 5-2 didn’t really flatter us and we could have scored more.

Here are my player ratings from today. Well done Gooners, more of the same next week at Anfield!

Arsenal Ratings:

Szczesny – 7 – Could do nothing about the opener but should have come off his line quicker to close down Bale when he burst through before taking a disgusting dive. Made a couple of good saves though.

Sagna – 7 – Great header got us back in it but his crossing could have been better. A consistent performance as ever from the Frenchman.

Vermaelen – 7 – Was unlucky with the Spurs opener with Saha’s shot deflecting off his leg and past Szczesny, but he did look a little suspect in the opening 15 minutes. But settled into the game and was back to his dominant best in the second half.

Koscielny – 7.5 – Intercepted everything, broke down moves and competed well with Adebayor in the air. A rock throughout.

Gibbs – 6.5 – Failed to cover Vermaelen during the build up to the opener, and didn’t do enough to stop the rampaging Bale before the dive. But played his part going forward and was involved in the build up for the Sagna goal.

Song – 8 – Much better, more like the Song we’ve seen over the last  couple of years. Was everywhere

Arteta – 8.5 – His stats: 93% pass accuracy, 3 key passes, 1 assist, 4 accurate long balls, 5 tackles. Superb. Ran the game in the middle of the park and lovely cross set up Sagna for the first goal.

Rosicky – 9.5 – His best game in recent memory. Was everywhere and along with Arteta, ran the midfield with some lovely intricate passing and incisive play, and scored a superb goal. Definitely a better option than Ramsey in the ‘hole’ position behind RVP. Pushed the Dutchman close for MOTM.

Walcott – 8 – Theo had a stinker in the first half but he is always a threat and showed it again today with two well taken goals. Hopefully that will give him the confidence to push on for the rest of the season.

Benayoun – 7.5 – A surprise starter but it worked as he gave a lovely balance to the midfield and complemented our passing game well. Yossi also worked hard to break up play and covered Gibbs well when required.

Van Persie – 9.5 – Stunning all-round performance. Held the ball up superbly, lovely assist for Theo and his goal was world class. Just about deserved MOTM but tough to separate him from Rosicky.

SUBS:

Jenkinson – 6.5 – Slotted in a left back but didn’t have to much to do other than keep things solid and see out the game.

Chamberlain – 6 – Only on for 10 minutes in place of Theo and saw little of the ball. Will be more NLD’s for him in the future.

Gervinho – n/a – Only on for a matter of minutes.

For those who’re interested, here are my ratings for the Tottenham team:

Friedel (6), Walker (6), King (6.5), Kaboul (5), Ekotto (5.5), Parker (4), Modric (6), Bale (3), Kranjcar (5), Saha (5), Adebayor (5). SUBS: Van der Vaart (5), Sandro (4), Dawson (6).

Watch all the goals here if you haven’t seen them or relive the masterclass performance again here: Ar52nal 5-2 Tottenham

What would your ratings be for the match? Leave them in the comments section below…