Player Ratings: Arsenal 2-0 Napoli

It was beautiful, truly beautiful. A 2-0 scoreline doesn’t do it justice though, with the potential to put the series away at home and a few missed chances was overlooked by a dominating performance by Arsenal.

Starting 11:

Petr Cech – 7.5

A solid cameo for the retirement bound keeper, playing well out of the back with solid distribution to our wing-backs. This gave us an opportunity to start our attacks out-wide, and keeping the clean sheet didn’t hurt his rating either even though not too much was asked of him.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 9

Exact opposite of the player we saw at Goodison Park on Sunday. Played well defensively, but was an absolute threat down the right side going forward.

Laurent Koscielny – 8.5

Most solid defender for Arsenal on the night, covered for every mistake made by the backline after coming straight off of an injury. Stood out amongst the defenders without a doubt.

Sokratis – 7.5

Did well, but was caught out a few times. Sokratis did well to cover to make up for the mistakes and keep the clean sheet in the end.

Nacho Monreal – 7.5

Didn’t do anything spectacular, but did what was asked of him as usual. Low-risk distribution and solid defensive performance earns the rating.

Sead Kolasinac – 6.5

Always seems to take one too many touches before getting a ball in after getting himself in good positions in the attacking third. Made good runs, but gets caught out of position after getting dispossessed after holding on to the ball too long down the left-wing.

Lucas Torreira – 9

Was everywhere and dominated the midfield entirely. Pressed incredibly well and won the ball back more than any player on the night after coming back from injury, even bagged a goal off of the shin of Napoli defender Koulibaly. An Aaron Ramsey performance is the only thing keeping him from a MOTM.

Aaron Ramsey – 9.5 MOTM

Again, Ramsey was our most creative player and gave us more reasons to miss him when he’s gone. Opened the Napoli defense up with his unorthodox vision. He was all over the pitch and became the essential link between our forwards and midfield, filling a role no one else can on Arsenal both defensively and going forward as shown with his goal scoring capabilities.

Mesut Özil – 8

Was creative and seemed to work hard in his time on the pitch. Caused problems in the attacking third and played a key role in a good majority of the chances we created, including the beautiful build up play leading to Ramsey’s opening goal.

Alexandre Lacazette – 7.5

Though he didn’t score, he played well off of Ozil and Ramsey and was essential in build-up play. Seemed to have a hand in over half of our chances created on the night, though he did miss a few chances on goal for himself.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 7

A quiet night for Aubameyang in front of goal, but did well to play off of Lacazette and did produce a few passes that created chances.

Subsitutions:

Alex Iwobi – 6.5

Henrikh Mkhitaryan – 7

Mohamed Elneny – N/A

Mkhitaryan was the stand-out of the substitutes without a doubt, coming on and bringing energy and creative play from the start. Iwobi did decent as well, with Elneny only getting a small stint on the pitch to seemingly seal the deal defensively. To be honest I would have rather seen Guendouzi fill that role, but did decent nonetheless.