Arsenal Vs Southampton: Player ratings – Eddie Nketiah rescues Gunners

GRANIT XHAKA. 6.5. A game of two halves. He was positive in the first half, providing composure on the ball at key times and helping to dictate play from deep. However, he only had 32 touches and played 15 of his 26 passes backwards. Given Arsenal’s control of play, that is not sufficient from a dictating holding midfielder. After the break, Xhaka was horrid. Slow to break up play, hiding in midfield with the team unable to play out, and invariably losing the ball when he did receive it. That may be due to a lack of match fitness, however.. CM. Arsenal

DANI CEBALLOS. 5.5. Maybe Unai Emery was right? Dani Ceballos struggles in the heat. A pass completion rate of just 76% is awful for a central midfielder who is meant to set the tempo of the team’s play in possession. Gave the ball away cheaply, hared out of his position at times, with Southampton easily playing around him, and largely anonymous in the final third. Poor.. CM. Arsenal

CM. Arsenal. BUKAYO SAKA. 7.0. He really suits this augmented left-sided central midfield role. Drifts into the wide space superbly, is threatening in the final third, recycles possession really well, which is oft-overlooked, and has a terrific engine to bound up and down the pitch. Tired in the second half but was the team’s primary outlet early on, linking up with Tierney and Aubameyang excellently.