How Arsenal players fared against Sunderland – my ratings

Here are my Arsenal player ratings from today’s 2-1 victory over a resolute Sunderland side (feel free to argue or agree with me):

Wojciech Szczesny – Made some fantastic saves today, seems to be back to his best as of late and is becoming very dependable. Unlucky not to keep a clean sheet. 8/10

Bacary Sagna – Fantastic to see him back in the side. Made some good runs down the right hand flank and is looking sharp since his return from injury. Defensively sound. 7/10

Per Mertesacker – Probably the most unlucky player on the pitch today. The German was having a good game then went down while running back for the ball which led to James McClean giving Sunderland a 1-0 lead with 30 minutes to go. No blame should be placed on him for the goal, just a freak injury – proably caused by a dodgy pitch. Substituted in the 73rd minute for Aaron Ramsey. 6/10

Laurent Koscielny – Not his best performance in an Arsenal shirt. Looked a little shaky at times, but still defended well and got back whenever he had to. 7/10

Thomas Vermaelen – Spent most of the match looking like a striker to be honest. Defended very well and becoming a dependable left-back. A great performance typical of Vermaelen. A rock at the back. 8/10

Mikel Arteta – Great display by Arteta once again. Still remains my favourite signing this season for Arsenal. Would love to see him on the score-sheet though, but his continuous completed pass rate makes up for his lack of goals. 8/10

Alex Song – Fought for everything today and was solid. Linked up well with Rosicky in midfield and together stopped everything from coming through the middle of the pitch in the first half. Man of the Match for me. 9/10

Tomas Rosicky – Another decent game from the Czech international. The only criticism I have of him is that I would love for him to shoot more often when he gets into decent positions. Worked really well with Song in midfield. 8/10

Alex Chamberlain– Alex ran his little heart out again for Arsenal. This youngster has a ton of passion and energy, sadly, it just wasn’t his day. He may come under some criticism because he played so well last week but, on today’s performance, a solid 7/10 shows he did what was required of him. Replaced by Thierry Henry in the 67th minute. 7/10

Robin van Persie – Sunderland didn’t give him any room at all today and because of this was quite quiet. There were no decent balls in from Walcott this week and the Dutchman proved he is in fact human after all. 7/10

Theo Walcott – Poor performance again from Theo – nothing like the game he played against Blackburn and it showed. Delivery from the flank was poor and rarely used his pace to get round the Sunderland defenders. 6/10

Subs

Aaron Ramsey – The Welshman has received a lot of flack recently for his poor performances, but came on for the injured Mertesacker in the 73rd minute and turned the game around within two minutes on the pitch by netting Arsenal’s equaliser. The young midfielder hit a great strike from just outside the box which rebounded off both uprights before going in. This will surely be the boost of confidence Rambo needed. I just hope he builds from this. 7.5/10

Andrey Arshavin – Another player who has been receiving his share of complaints by the Arsenal fans, including myself. Came on for the last four minutes of the match and gave a glimpse of what he can do when he is playing well. He provided the cross that Arsenal had lacked all match under Walcott which fell to Thierry Henry to slot home. A great cameo appearance, but will it be enough to turn round some of the Arsenal fans opinion of him?. 8/10

Thierry Henry – I make no apologises for giving this man a 10! Thierry Henry made his last Premier League appearance for his beloved Arsenal after coming on for AOC in the 67th minute and eventually ended up being labelled, once again, as a hero. The Frenchman latched onto a cross from Arshavin and volleyed the ball home in stoppage time to once again give Arsenal a much needed three points. There is nothing that I can say about this man that hasn’t already been said about him in the past. Thank you Thierry! 10/10

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