Arsenal player ratings vs Leeds: Aubameyang nets Premier League hat-trick

Arsenal stormed to a 4-2 win against Leeds in the Premier League on Sunday with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netting a hat-trick. These are the player ratings.

The first of five matches over the course of 14 days took place on Valentine’s Day, with Mikel Arteta’s side without victory in their previous three top-flight outings. With injuries to key players to contend with, Dani Ceballos started in midfield alongside Granit Xhaka.

Starting well, the only concern was whether Arsenal could make the most of their dominance, something they did when Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng smartly struck beyond Meslier. He then made no mistake from the spot after Bukayo Saka was clumsily felled, shortly after the same player was denied a penalty by VAR.

Hector Bellerin slammed home just before break to put daylight between the Gunners and Leeds, with the second half starting in similar fashion as Aubameyang completed his hat-trick after lovely ball from Emile Smith Rowe.

Arsenal players ratings vs Leeds in the Premier League on Sunday

Pascal Struijk pulled one back for the visitors with a towering header, and when all appeared to be totally composed, the Gunners fell asleep and Helder Costa reduced the scoreline to 4-2.

Arsenal held firm(ish) to see out the win, and what a win it was. Needed that.

Arsenal Goalkeeper and Defenders Ratings

Bernd Leno (GK) – 7/10 – Little to do. His distribution was neat, finding his man with welcome frequency. Made one fine save from Raphinha but was otherwise untroubled bar picking the ball out of the net twice.

Hector Bellerin (RB) – 7/10 – Scored his goal with aplomb and got up and down the pitch with great frequency all game. Still slightly off in a few situations but a solid outing nonetheless, which is why him falling asleep for the second Leeds goal is nowhere near good enough.

David Luiz (CB) – 7/10 – Had a few hairy moments with some of his long passing fairly weak, while he also fancied a few marauding charges forward. Still, he adds another dimension to the side when he’s in and against a Leeds side wanting to press high, it was a smart move. Did well.

Gabriel (CB) – 8/10 – Added fluidity playing out from the back with his clever pressing and neat distribution. He’s still getting back up to speed but Sunday was a solid step in the right direction for him and the timing of his moves and tackles was much improved.

Cedric Soares (LB) – 8/10 – All Cedric’s glaring errors come on the wrong side, so how he’s managed to keep most of them in check despite the obvious struggles of playing on the opposite flank deserve credit. Linked up well with Smith Rowe.

Arsenal Midfielders Ratings

Dani Ceballos (CM) – 8/10 – He needed to play well, and he did. On show was the best, and worst of both worlds with Ceballos – like his overplaying – although the best shone through by a mile. Above all, he appeared more switch on today, chasing down second balls and doubling up in midfield when Leeds looked for overloads.

Everything was sharper from the Spaniard today, and his assist for Bellerin’s goal was delightful.

Granit Xhaka (CM) – 8/10 – Tidy, efficient and well balanced with Ceballos, the Swiss provided good cover in central areas while also keeping the ball moving with greater fluency when openings came up down the left flank.

Fought well for second balls and added steel in midfield.

Martin Odegaard (AM) – 8/10 – A very tidy full debut from Martin Odegaard, whose quickness of thought was so valuable to making Saka such a threat down the right side. His link-up play was excellent and his touches pure.

A sign of things to come?

Arsenal Forwards Ratings

Bukayo Saka (RW) – 9/10 – What is there left to say? His attitude is exemplary and any young footballer, or even mature footballer for that matter, can learn so much from how he conducts himself on the pitch.

Beyond that, he’s immensely talented. The explosiveness of his play, the way he moves with and without out the ball and his end product are so refined for someone his age. Every time you think there is no other way he can surprise, he does something else of outstanding quality.

Generational talent.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (ST) – 9/10 – He needed those goals. But a hat-trick? Dreamland! Above all though, his performance merited them. Playing through the middle he took on different role today that was intriguing to see, as he came short more often than usual to allow deep midfield runners to go beyond.

The link-up on the left with Emile Smith Rowe and Xhaka was cleverly thought out and executed with equal precision. Back in the goals. Love to see it.

Emile Smith Rowe (LW) – 8/10 – Handed a different role out on the left for Sunday, Smith Rowe worked so well with his captain in running off him whenever Bernd Leno went long or when Aubameyang moved out wide left from the centre-forward position.

Given how well the team performed it’s easy to gloss over individual displays but the one and two-touch moves from Smith Rowe in between the lines kept the pace of the attacks up and didn’t allow Leeds chance to guess what was coming next. His assist for Aubameyang was divine.

Arsenal Substitutes Ratings

Willian – 4/10 – Do the players not trust him? It comes across that way as the level always drops when he enters the fray. Didn’t do too much wrong, gave the ball away enough, but did next to nothing right. Slows the play down considerably.

Mohamed Elneny – N/A – Not on long enough for a rating.

Rob Holding – N/A – Not on long enough for a rating.