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Arsene Wenger made two changes to the starting lineup which faced Everton last week. Playing at a familiar Wembley Stadium, Arsenal knew that a win would bring them closer to the league's top four, however, they eventually lost and their fate of missing out the Champions League through Premier League qualification spots has almost been sealed.
There will probably be no St. Totteringham's Day either for the second year running. Arsenal's only hope left to qualify for the Champions League will be through winning the Europa League.
Goalkeeper: 7
Petr Cech started despite speculation that he would not, following an injury in the match against Everton. If not for his presence, Tottenham would have scored more than one goal.
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He made a couple of marvellous saves to help Arsenal remain fighting in the game. However, his game was not all smooth-sailing. A misplaced pass from him almost allowed Tottenham to double their lead.
Defenders
Right-Back (Hector Bellerin): 7.5
Against the South Korean striker, Hector Bellerin did a brilliant job in denying Son Heung-min from creating much. Bellerin had been on the winning end of the battle between the duo and it resulted in Tottenham's striker facing many difficulties throughout the game.
Centre-back (Laurent Koscielny): 7
The French defender partnered well with his centre-back in the first half. in general, the team defended decently well in the first half, giving Tottenham little chances to invent something, however, Koscielny went down too easily as Harry Kane nudged him in the back while scoring his header. That winning goal from Harry Kane was the deciding factor of the match.
Centre-back (Shkodran Mustafi): 7
This was one of Mustafi's best performance in an Arsenal shirt. He made crucial interceptions in preventing Tottenham from scoring. Each time Tottenham was close to scoring, Mustafi arrived at the right place at the right time to deny them.
Late in the second-half, he was shown a yellow for a rash challenge. He did his job and played his role throughout the game. Whenever he had the ball, he was always trying to move the ball forward, but everything came to nought.
Left-back (Nacho Monreal): 7
Monreal played his full match after recovering from an injury. He was too naive by thinking that Harry Kane's nudge on his captain will be a foul. Monreal did well defensively but offered very little in attack. He sat deep in the first half and barely had any chances to move forward.
Midfielders
Central Midfielder (Mohammed Elneny): 7
Elneny came into the starting lineup to play alongside Granit Xhaka, replacing Aaron Ramsey who was out with a groin injury. Elneny was everywhere throughout the game. He went from defending to attacking very quickly.
Once again, however, the team showed little desire to attack. They sat back and defended all the way against a dominant Tottenham team. There was little that he could do to get the team to attack more and he was replaced by Arsene Wenger in order for Alex Iwobi to come in.
Central Midfielder (Granit Xhaka): 7.5
If there is one game where Granit Xhaka has not made plenty of mistakes, this is certainly the game. Xhaka was disciplined and worked excellently with Elneny in the first half to keep Tottenham at bay.
In the first half, the midfield showed their willingness and ability to defend well, however, at the same time, it was the midfielders who failed to offer much when the team transitioned to attack.
Central Attacking Midfielder (Mesut Ozil): 6
The German failed to live up to his name nor show his prowess in the early Premier League match of the weekend. The attacking midfielders just failed to click well tonight. Ozil tried to move around more and get the ball from deeper positions, but nothing went right for the team.
Right wing (Jack Wilshere): 6
A torrid game for Jack Wilshere. Right from the first kick, he had been inferior to the Tottenham midfielders. Nothing went right for him today as Tottenham closed him down very quickly and gave Wilshere very little space to run. He made too many misplaced passes in his game tonight, unlike his usual style. Perhaps the tight play from Tottenham had severely limited his creativity.
Wilshere was at the receiving end of multiple challenges on him and that showed how determined Tottenham were to keep this Englishman quiet and totally ineffective.
Left wing (Henrikh Mkhitaryan): 5.5
Mkhitaryan showed what he can do when he played against Everton. When he played against Tottenham, I thought I just saw someone totally opposite of the player against Everton.
When Arsenal sprung into attack in the first half, Mkhitaryan was guilty of missing those chances to create something for his team-mates. He had been too wasteful and too careless in his play. He just showed that he is not ready for a fight against a top-rival.
Forward: 6
Honestly, giving Aubameyang a rating is extremely tough because he has had so little of the ball. The midfield had contributed so little in the game that it has made it challenging for Aubameyang to even get the ball.
There were a few occasions when Arsenal tried to split the defence by releasing a through ball targeted at Aubameyang, but too few of those came in the game. Aubameyang needs more of those so that he can use his pace against defenders.
In the early moments of the match, Aubameyang was ruled offside. It was a close call given that Aubameyang was just marginally offside. He could have scored given that chance, but since the referee has blown the whistle, his chance was blown away.
Substitute
Alexandre Lacazette: 6
More chances fell to him than it did for Aubameyang, but Lacazette squandered them all. He was so close to scoring, but he failed to equalise for the team. A player of his ability could have handled the situation much better than he did in the game. He ought to reflect on how he missed those golden opportunities laid for him.
Alex Iwobi: 5.5
With 25 minutes to play, Iwobi came on with Lacazette in hope of securing at least a point for the team. However, the Nigerian was poor in his passes and did very little during the time of the pitch. Like the rest of the attacking midfielders, Tottenham showed them who were the stronger side and Arsenal fell short in terms of attack.
Danny Welbeck: N/A
Welbeck came on too late in the game to receive any rating. As soon as he appeared, he was rewarded with a chance. But being unprepared, Welbeck's touch was far too heavy and the ball went out of his reach.
That illustrated how Arsenal's game went. Arsenal concentrated too much on defending, which was unlike a typical Arsenal team. Tottenham had too much possession and were so comfortable in midfield. Arsenal thought they could catch Tottenham on counter attacks but little did they know that they were lacking in attacking abilities. The team encountered problems of unable to break quickly enough and lacked sharpness in their passes, which cost them many chances in the game.
