Arsenal at Fulham Player Ratings

I’m going to try something different with the player ratings — I think I’m going to give my quick ratings as the text of the post instead of basically repeating myself from the recap. It gives us more of a basis to chat in the comments, too. Let me know what you think.

Mikel Arteta - 8
Set the team up well and was rewarded for his faith in Gabriel in a big way. As a running theme throughout, it’s tough to give super high ratings for performances against Fulham. The Cottagers were pretty poor today.

Bernd Leno - 7
Made the one big play he had to - taking the ball off Kamara’s foot after a poor back pass from Ainsley Maitland-Niles and a miscommunication with Gabriel. A clean sheet is always nice.

Rob Holding - 7.5
Solid match. Flashed a nice bit of on-ball skill that I didn’t know he had, too.

Gabriel Magalhaes - 9
Great debut for the Brazilian. Early miscommunication jitter aside, may have been the best Arsenal player on the day. Tackled well, 95% pass completion, and scored the 2nd goal.

Kieran Tierney - 6
A bit of a quiet day by his lofty standards of late. Wasn’t as involved in the attack, perhaps because whatever attacking threat Fulham had was down his side. He did well enough.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles - 6
He presses and defense really well, but really doesn’t offer much going forward. He put in one half-decent cross, though.

Hector Bellerin - 8
From @oh_that_crab: 84.5% Passing (74.2% xPass%), 7 Progressive Passes (led all players), 4 Passes completed into the box (led all players), 10 Progressive carries (led all players). Pretty good day from Hector. Perhaps he’s rounding back into form?

Granit Xhaka - 7
Solid, unremarkable game from Xhaka. Passed well, including one very nice ball over the top ball to Aubameyang in the first half.

Mohamed Elneny - 7.5
Put in a pleasant surprise of a solid match. Like most Arsenal players, didn’t have to do much, but did what he had to. Didn’t make any big mistakes.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 8.5
Not much changes with Aubameyang match-in, match-out. Scored a goal and added a handful more shots.

Alexandre Lacazette - 8
Scored an away goal, which have been a rarity for him. Generally doesn’t get enough credit for his work without the ball as part of the press.

Willian - 9
Two official assists, and a semi-assist on the Arsenal first goal. Was involved in the attack all match and works really hard without the ball. Can’t ask for much more.

Dani Ceballos - 7
Flashed some skill in his cameo appearance.

Nicolas Pepe - 6
Didn’t really do much, good or bad. Came on with the game well in hand.

Eddie Nketiah - 6
Same as with Pepe. Not much of a chance to do anything.

And here’s your chance.