Arsenal player ratings vs Tottenham: Crushing 3-0 derby defeat

Arsenal succumbed to a heavy loss against Tottenham on Thursday night as goals from Harry Kane and Heung-min Son consigned the ten-man Gunners to a 3-0 defeat in the Premier League.

Mikel Arteta was faced with numerous injury concerns heading into this fixture with Benjamin White and Bukayo Saka potentially joining Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney on the injury list, although fortunately Saka overcame his knock.

The manager therefore kept the same back four from the win over Leeds, with Takehiro Tomiyasu resuming his place in the flexible defence with Cedric Soares.

Elsewhere it was a midfield pairing of Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny, while Gabriel Martinelli lined up on the left of the attack and Bukayo Saka slotted in on the left.

Arsenal player ratings vs Tottenham as Premier League top four race blows wide open with 3-0 defeat for Gunners as Rob Holding gets sent off

A really tense game took its first twist with 22 minutes on the clock when Cedric was harshly judged to have bundle into Son, which awarded Tottenham a penalty. Their first shot was Harry Kane burying it into the back of the net.

The game fully turned on its head when Rob Holding inexplicable obstructed Son for a ball he was never getting to, and thus received a deserved second yellow card before the clock struck 35 mins. Mere seconds later, Kane made it two from a corner.

Within seconds of the second half, it was three. Kane wrestled off Gabriel and Son fired home from inside the penalty area when the ball fell to him.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Gabriel pulled his hamstring on top of Holding’s suspension, making Newcastle a brutally daunting prospect. It was absolutely soul destroying. All of it.

Two games to secure top four. Two wins are utterly paramount.

Goalkeeper & Defenders

Aaron Ramsdale (GK) – 5/10 – Picked the ball out of the net and, apart from one top save, that was about it. This is how it’s gone over the last few weeks.

Cedric Soares (RB) – 3/10 – Looked nervy from the outset and Son kept peeling off him to find gaps in the half-spaces. The penalty was certainly harsh but it isn’t one that VAR is, unfortunately, going to overturn. Couldn’t get to grips with the game whatsoever.

Rob Holding (CB) – 1/10 – While angry Holding is normally good Holding, he had to settle down. He was too fired up for this game. The way he got stuck into Son was above the threshold, and he could have no complaints about the red card. Moronic, especially since he was never getting to the ball for the second foul.

Gabriel (CB) – 4/10 – From the outset he was someone who was going to have a big say in this match, only for his defensive partner to take over the mantle. Edgy at times and also fairly physical, it was an uphill battle for him and the rest from the sending off. Everything went wrong.

Takehiro Tomiyasu (LB) – 5/10 – Started out at left-back and then switched to the right after the red card, but even Tomiyasu, who is so normally calm, looked taken aback by the overlapping runs of Spurs’ wing-backs.

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Midfielders

Mohamed Elneny (CM) – 6/10 – He was calm, you can’t knock him that.

Elneny was so limited in what he could do that every time he was on the ball it was either wall passes or back to the keeper. Rarely managed to receive with the play in front of him and it resulted in a similarly simple pass and move five metres game for him. But, he never looked frazzled.

Granit Xhaka (CM) – 5/10 – Of all the people to look slightly nervy, Xhaka wasn’t one of the ones to expect to fall into that category early doors. It looked to be a game of such magnitude that even he felt the pressure.

Martin Odegaard (AM) – 5/10 – Was one of few in the team who didn’t appear to let the occasion get to him, but the way Arsenal tried to build up made the options for him limited or heroic.

Nonetheless, this wasn’t the crisp Martin Odegaard we’ve seen this season. Too many needless shots from distance, even if his quality did stand out on occasion.

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Forwards

Bukayo Saka (RW) – 5/10 – Physically exceptional across the game. The way he used his body in the challenges and on second balls was outstanding. Despite his injury concerns the way he dug into every duel and forced every action was commendable. Sadly, it wasn’t enough, and Sessegnon dealt with him well.

Eddie Nketiah (ST) – 4/10 – Another player who almost seemed too fired up for the game, an embarrassing dive in the opening minutes was followed by poor moments in possession, even if he kept fighting for every ball.

Ran his socks off and was rightly taken off early to save him for Newcastle.

Gabriel Martinelli (LW) – 6/10 – If anyone was going to do anything, it was Martinelli.

His control was outstanding and every time he got the ball he was surrounded by three Spurs bodies, which tells you enough about his threat. Came off early to spare him for Monday.

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Substitutes

Emile Smith Rowe – 5/10 – It’s an awful game state to come on in. 3 goals down away at your fiercest rivals with just ten men on the pitch.

Alexandre Lacazette – 4/10 – Did he touch the ball with any purpose?

Nuno Tavares – 5/10 – Made a few strong runs down the left, effectively as a winger, when the game was horribly, horribly dead.