[Player Ratings] WBA 2-3 Arsenal: Fulop & Gibbs The Gunners Hero’s

What a crazy, crazy final day of Premier League action. I suppose our 3-2 win over West Brom summed up our season, mostly because of the comical defending, but we got over the line and secured third, just.

Of course we were all celebrating qualifying for the Champions League at the final whistle (as well as celebrating St Totteringhams Day once again) but if we look back over the course of the game, the fact is we put in an awful performance. It was anything but vintage Arsenal and we struggled to create chances. If it wasn’t for the inept performance of Marton Fulop, we may be feeling a whole lot different today.

But the result is all that mattered yesterday. The season is out the way and however we managed to do it, coming third after the start we had is an unbelievable achievement. In fact, after losing Fabregas and Nasri and losing four of our first seven games, i think this is certainly one of Arsene Wenger’s greatest achievements.

Here are my ratings from the game:

Arsenal ratings:

Szczesny – 6 – He hesitated for West Brom’s first, although Long was clearly offside, Szczesny should have played to the whistle and come out to clear the ball. I also feel he should have done a little better with the Dorrans goal. Arsene says the big Pole has been nursing an injury for over 5 weeks but has been playing through the pain, which may explain his slight did in poor of late.

Jenkinson – 6 – Struggled a little in the first half but grew into the game and was far more settled in the second period.

Vermaelen – 6 – Went missing up field (again) for the second goal, he really does need to curb his attacking instincts and remember that his priority is to defend first, attack second. But held firm in the closing stages as WBA pushed for an equaliser.

Koscielny – 7.5 – Failed to cover Vermaelen properly for the second as he and Jenkinson got too close to one another but he made a sensational block late on and showed a strikers instinct for the winner. Good performance overall.

Santos – 7 – The Brazilian showed us the best and worst of his game. His attacking play was great and he showed lovely footwork and finish for the equaliser, but his defending was pretty poor.

Song – 7 – Made an important tackle in the build up to the equaliser. Song was better than he was against Norwich, but he still seems to be playing with less intensity than during the first half of the season. He didn’t dominate the middle of the park like he usually does. Hopefully it’s just down to fatigue after a long season, and not that his mind is elsewhere.

Coquelin – 5 – Got beaten too easily in the build up to the first and he struggled all afternoon next to Song. He gave the ball away too often, even giving it to the referee on one occasion. I was disappointed with him to be honest, but he’s got plenty of time to develop his game.

Rosicky – 5 – A surprisingly quite afternoon for Tomas. He saw little of the ball and was struggling to get into the game before being subbed at half time.

Gervinho – 5 – Another disappointing contribution from Gervinho. Started on the right and although he got into some good positions, his final ball let him down, not for the first time this season. Moved to the left in the second half but still couldn’t make an impression on the game and was eventually subbed.

Benayoun – 8 – Showed great determination to chase down a lost cause for the opening goal and put in a typically hard working shift. He’s been superb during the final few months of the season and proved to be an important part of the squad. Will be sorely missed if we don’t make his move a permanent one this summer.

Van Persie – 6 – A very quite day for our 30-goal striker. He hardly touched the ball and only had a couple of half chances to add to his tally this season. But it was his corner that lead to the winner and he worked pretty hard up front on his own, with very little support during the second half as Arsenal dropped deeper and deeper to protect the lead.

SUBS:

Walcott – 5 – Got past his man only once in the second half and didn’t really make any real impression on the game. Did his bit of defensive work though to ensure we held out for the win.

Gibbs – 8 – Gibbsy came on at left back and did a great job winning his headers and he made a stunning last minute tackle to prevent a certain equaliser. Although his positioning for that chance should also be questioned as he left his man in acres of space, but we’ll forgive him that one due to his superb recovery tackle.

Ramsey – 5 – On late and wasn’t really given a lot of time to

So third spot is secured, we’ve finished above Tottenham AGAIN and Podolski is in the bag already. Next up; sort out RVP, Walcott and Song’s contract situations and sign up another two world class players, then we’ll be in great shape for next season! COYG!

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