Arsenal vs Sheffield United player ratings: Same old, same old?

Arsenal hosted Sheffield United hoping to restart their upward progression with three points. Here are the player ratings from the match.

Arsenal took their task of moving up the table back to the Emirates to face Sheffield United. Last time these two clubs faced, Arsenal were fighting to move up to third in the table. Needless to say, things have changed since then.

Mikel Arteta made some changes, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang served the first match of his suspension. Gabriel Martinelli started in his stead on the left wing.

Elsewhere, with the continued injury problems at leftback, Bukayo Saka returned to the position. Lastly, and most horrifically, Shkodran Mustafi stepped in for a sick Sokratis, and within ten minutes, we saw yet again that Mustafi was up against it to inspire any sort of defensive confidence.

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The match took awhile to spawn it’s first chance for the Gunners. Sheffield were the better club, they were on the front foot, they were doing most of the positive play while the Gunners were left picking at the scraps.

Martinelli had to two best chances early on, both on fantastic creative build-up by Nicolas Pepe, but both times, Martinelli was unable to finish. That changed just before half, when the Brazilian put home arguably the easiest finish he’ll ever have off a deflected cross from Bukayo Saka.

You might not want to call the goal undeserved, but it was a bit fortunate.

Unfortunately, that good fortune didn’t hold out for long. The Gunners controlled the second half and looked likely to nab a second, but for a volley from Fleck in the 82nd minute that beat Bernd Leno.

Here are the player ratings

Goalkeeper