Watford 2-2 Arsenal: 3 Players who were poor for the Gunners and 2 who weren't | Premier League 2019/20

#3 Sokratis – Poor

Sokratis (L) let Watford back into the match

In the 2018 off-season, Sokratis was acquired by Arsenal as they hoped to fix a leaky defence. Though the Greek international has provided a defensive upgrade, he probably hasn’t beefed up the rear-guard as much as expected. On Sunday, he contrived to pull out one of his worst defensive mistakes in an Arsenal jersey.

With the Gunners well placed in the game, Sokratis inexplicably tried to pass the ball into the channel between the forwards, who were closing him down. Unsurprisingly, his attempted venture was thwarted by Deulofeu, whose outstretched right boot squared the ball to Cleverley.

The Englishman made no mistake and smashed the ball past a hapless Leno.

Thereafter, the Greek looked wobbly and got caught in a couple of sticky situations. Though Luiz bailed him out on a few occasions, Sokratis certainly needed to add a bit more steel to a defensive line often accused of lacking fibre.

However, more importantly, the defender’s lack of accomplished ball playing ability might not hold the Gunners in good stead, moving forward.

Emery is a firm believer of playing out from the back. But, rather alarmingly, Arsenal have conceded quite a few goals through that avenue.

If the manager is unwilling to tweak things a shade, maybe the personnel might face the axe and that could be potentially problematic for Sokratis.