Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Arsenal: Arsenal's player ratings

Midfielders

Central Midfielder (Mohammed Elneny): 7

Elneny made a rare start in the Premier League

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

Granit Xhaka defended superbly

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

Mesut Ozil had a day to forget. Everyone knows defending is not his cup of tea. In this particular game, Ozil offered bare minimal. His name was barely heard and even if he received the ball, Tottenham were so strong defensively, they were able to track his balls and defend them accordingly.

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

It was a terrible match for Wilshere's team when it came to attack

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

An abysmal performance from the Armenian

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.