Arsenal vs Burnley player ratings: The definition of ugly

Arsenal traveled to Turf Moor in the hopes of leaping up the table with three points. Here are the player ratings from the match.

Arsenal looked much different against Burnely, right from the first whistle. Mikel Arteta decided to put a new spin on the personnel on the pitch. It was met with some relatively mixed reviews.

For starters Nicolas Pepe was shoved to the bench. After improving so much over the past few months, Arteta felt like he would be better served sticking with a more experienced attack… and Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli is always a good choice. As is getting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back into the mix on his return. But Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette were head scratchers with Pepe on the bench.

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Elsewhere, Lucas Torreira took a seat to allow for Matteo Guendouzi‘s grand return. Hard to say he hasn’t earned it, but it’s also hard to say that Lucas Torreira has lost it.

Of course, it was an immediate vindication for the head scratching when Lacazette blew an uncontested open header from about ten feet just after the first minute. Not to be outdone, about twelve minutes later Aubameyang scuffed a pristine effort just to the left of goal. Inauspicious.

It got even stinkier throughout the early portions. We couldn’t get the ball forward and when we did, the strikers were there to flub their lines. It could be summarized as a complete lack of counter attacking sharpness, whether in the supply or the finish. It became a question of what would we have more of—failed counters or guys rolling around on the floor?

That was the first half. Yuck. And the second half began much the same, with failures playing out from the back and an inability to put together cohesive play. It just wasn’t a good showing. Arsenal were not up for the fight.

Here are the player ratings:

Goalkeeper