Arsenal Player Ratings, Everton Match

Starting Eleven
Wojciech Szczesny (7); Szczesny didn’t have much to do on the day as Everton’s efforts on goal were generally limited to long-range variety & none of them were on target.  But Szczesny’s poise & confidence inside his area was still evident throughout the match.

Johan Djourou (6.5); Djourou clearly looks like a natural centerback playing at right back, which he is.  Djourou clearly doesn’t provide as much going forward as normal right back, Bakary Sagna, but defensively he did well even though he can be at a loss for pace against wide players.

Per Mertesacker (6.5); Ol’ Slow Per did pretty well against Everton & Louis Saha yesterday & though he wasn’t outstanding, partnered with Koscielny well & did a yeoman’s job in his defensive duties.

Laurent Koscielny (6.5);  Pretty much the same thing for Koscielny as Mertesacker though Laurent on a few occasions put himself under a bit of pressure with a couple of missed tackles deep in the defending third.  However, overall did a decent enough performance.

Thomas Vermaelen (6.5); Vermaelen is better in the middle for sure, but can & did play pretty well at left back yesterday.  Had a couple of injury scares during the match but he shook them off to finish & round out an all around decent effort from the defensive backline.

Mikel Arteta (6.5); Arteta was his usual self.  Keeping possession well, playing the simple passes & linking midfield to attack pretty well though maybe you could say he could’ve done a little more in the attacking third on Saturday, but that’s a minor complaint.

Alexandre Song (7); For a deep lying midfielder he used to seemingly be nothing more than a hard tackler, Song’s passing has gotten miles better than it used to be & on Saturday just missed a couple of through ball attempts until he hit van Persie with a delightful lofted, diagonal ball on the match-winning goal.  Tackled well as usual but his assist on the goal was almost as pretty as the goal itself.

Aaron Ramsey (6.5); When Ramsey gets some of the over-ambitious youthful passes out of his game he will be an absolutely exquisite midfielder.  On Saturday he was industrious, popping up in the box at times (van Persie missed on one occasion where a little layback pass would’ve seen Ramsey have a wide open shot inside the box form about 15 yards out), and unlike Fabregas tracks back defensively more often to help out Song.

Theo Walcott (7); Walcott can be enigmatic & inconsistent but yesterday he played well & had a decent game though like usual his final ball & decision making in the final third could’ve been better.  But you sense the light is finally starting to switch on for Theo as a player.  Also tracked backed well defensively on a few occasions when Djourou had been caught out of position.

Robin Van Persie (8);  van Persie was actually fairly ineffective early on.  His touch was poor on several occasions including dribbling the ball out of play on no less than 3 separate occasions, twice in the box (though to be fair on one, play had already been been blown dead on an offsides call) & once near the halfway line.  BUT I’ll give him an 8 for the match overall for his moment of magic & sheer quality of his finish & technique on the match-winner.  What a freaking goal!

Gervinho (6.5); If Gervinho could shoot well, he might’ve had 2 goals yesterday.  He definitely is a shifty, tricky player but his finishing has to get better if he is to be a long-term starter.  Gervinho contrived to blow up a three-on-none breakaway Arsenal had in the first half.

Substitutes
Ignasi Miquel, 82nd minute (n.r. [no rating]); interesting substitute put on late for Vermaelen but Vermaelen had a couple of injury scares in the match, so Miquel may have been put on as a precaution.  By the way, English announcers, it’s Miquel with a Q & pronounced “mi-kel,” not Miguel with a G.  Open your freaking eyes.

Tomas Rosicky, 83rd minute (n.r.); Came on for Gervinho but didn’t really have time to do much of anything.

Emmanuel Frimpong, 89 minute (n.r.);  Last minute substitute put on to sure up the midfield & to possibly Frimpong any Everton player that may have gotten a bit froggy there at the end.

Arsenal Man of the Match
Duh, Robin Van Persie.  Despite a slightly ineffective performance early, his wonder-volley won the match.