Arsenal vs Chelsea Player Ratings

Arsenal dropped crucial points against Chelsea thanks mostly to Per Mertesacker’s red card. Here are the player ratings from the match.

Bit of an unfortunate match. Arsenal played incredibly admirably in spite of being a man down. Yet at the end of the day, Arsenal have fallen off the top of the table. On the bright side, Alexis Sanchez is back and healthy and supposedly Mohamed Elneny is on the team, however we can neither confirm nor deny this.

Anyway, here are the player ratings.

Did what he could. Made his usual collection of good decisions and proper saves. The fact that it remained 0-1 after a red card is pretty impressive.. GK. Arsenal FC. PETR CECH. 7.5

HECTOR BELLERIN. 7.3. Did all he could to keep Arsenal in it. Made no glaring mistakes, unlike some other defenders to be mentioned later. Continues to be a positive force going forward and tracking back.. RB. Arsenal FC

0.9. 16 touches, one foul, one red card. If this is not the final nail in Mertesacker’s coffin, I do not know what is. From the moment Paulista came on, he looked head and shoulders better than our pace-master general. At least we will have a week off from worrying about Mertesacker while he serves his suspension.. CB. Arsenal FC. PER MERTESACKER

6.2. Not impressed by Koscielny today. Yet again gave the ball away far too frequently and put Arsenal in some dicey circumstances. Gabriel is quickly rising up the ranks. Luckily for Koscielny, as long as Per is bumbling around next to him, he’ll always look like a superhero.. CB. Arsenal FC. LAURENT KOSCIELNY

LB. Arsenal FC. NACHO MONREAL. 7.7. Our fullbacks are so good. Between Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal, we have a fantastic pairing and one that can be consistently relied upon. Even when the match is going sour, these two do not lose any of their effectiveness anywhere on the pitch.

Flamini has filled in for Coquelin so admirably but he is declining at a rapid pace. He was awful against Chelsea, completely ineffective and appointed himself as Arsenal’s striker because no one else seemed to want the job. Mohamed Elneny was bought for a reason and Wenger has to recognize that Flamini is not an effective midfielder for a title-contending team. It’s time to make a change. It’s just a shame it takes a disaster to prompt changes.. MID. Arsenal FC. MATHIEU FLAMINI. 5.1

7.5. There was a huge backlash against Aaron Ramsey and there is no reason why. He rose to the occasion to try to take control of a game in shambles when no one else would. He <a href=. MID. Arsenal FC. AARON RAMSEY

I feel like I need to establish that I actually like Theo Walcott. But for the past few matches he has been awful and he is proving that his effectiveness is incredibly limited. Today was classified by giveaways when he was on the wings and offsides when he was moved up front. Joel Campbell should have remained on the pitch long after Theo Walcott. But he didn’t. Seniority and loyalty are fine and all but he is consistently proving that he is not up to scratch.. MID. Arsenal FC. THEO WALCOTT. 4.9

5.9. Not a good match by Ozil. Really wanted to see him do something constructive against Chelsea but from the moment Per was sent off, this match swung well out of Ozil’s control. The German maestro is a player who likes to control proceedings but when Arsenal are flying up and down the pitch, he is not nearly as effective.. MID. Arsenal FC. MESUT OZIL

Deserved to stay on the pitch longer than he did. His work rate would have been such a vital asset late in the game when Arsenal needed to press. However, Wenger continues to show that he prefers Theo Walcott and it is a major red flag.. MID. Arsenal FC. JOEL CAMPBELL. 7.4

7.0. Our only striker and he was taken off in the 18th minute. Hard to compensate for that. Giroud continues to prove his worth, particularly when he’s not on the pitch. Arsenal looked toothless without him in the box and crossing became irrelevant. If the team is so dependent on Giroud, he cannot be subbed off. Whatever the case, the Frenchman did not exactly have time to do much.. ST. Arsenal FC. OLIVIER GIROUD

7.6. Came on to cover for Per’s blunder. What else can Gabriel do to prove that he should have been replacing Mertesacker about a month ago? The Brazilian is a monster on the pitch and he continues to prove that he may very well be Arsenal’s most effective defender.. CB. Arsenal FC. GABRIEL PAULISTA

7.9. MAN OF THE MATCH. Came on for Joel Campbell though it should have been for Walcott. Immediately, Arsenal looked like they had 11 men again. The team looked dangerous and ready to equalize but it just never happened. Having Alexis back is like a breath of fresh air. Hopefully this is the corner that Arsenal needed to turn.. MID. Arsenal FC. ALEXIS SANCHEZ

Didn’t do much, but seeing as how he has been rather terrible lately, that’s not a bad thing.. MID. Arsenal FC. ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN. 6.9