My Arsenal player ratings from today’s 3-1 victory over Norwich (feel free to argue or agree with me).
Lukasz Fabianski – Only had to pick the ball out of the net for a goal he couldn’t do anything about. Made a great save in the dying minutes to pick up all the points. 7/10
Bacary Sagna – Had a fairly decent game. Defended well and kept position throughout but his delivery in the box was poor – as usual. Booked. 6/10
Kieran Gibbs – Bombed up and down the left wing well enough and always looked to deliver the ball into the box from the byline. Needs to consider when to push up and sit-back at times though. 6/10
Thomas Vermaelen – A confident and formidable return to the first-team set-up. Kept position well, composed on the ball and kept Norwich’s forwards quiet. Will give Arsene Wenger something to think about over the next few weeks. 7/10
Laurent Koscielny – Another fine display from the Frenchman. Like Vermaelen, he kept his position well and got stuck in. 7/10
Mikel Arteta – Kept things nice and tidy in midfield and showcased his passing range once again. Scored the penalty which revived the comeback. 7/10
Jack Wilshere – Struggled to handle the pace of today’s game after returning from injury. Misplaced many passes and his touch wasn’t up to standards. Clearly wasn’t fit and was subbed after an hour. 4/10
Aaron Ramsey – Burst a gut to join in attacks and got stuck in throughout. Never complicated things and his work-rate was immense. Assuring performance from the Welsh midfielder. 7/10
Santi Cazorla – Always looked for the slide rule pass and grew as the game wore on. Not a great display, but a decent enough one. 6/10
Gervinho – Made some good runs forward and found space well but was not confident on the ball. At times was greedy and missed a glorious chance in the first-half to put Arsenal 1-0 up early on after taking a heavy touch around the goalkeeper. Came off in the 60th. 4/10
Olivier Giroud – Hit the bar early on with a flick header from a corner and always looked to bring his team-mates into play. Sometimes the French forward was too cute with his distribution and needs to be more greedy in front of goal, rather than lay the ball off to a team-mate. Tapped in Arsenal’s second from close range. Man of the Match. 7.5/10
SUBS
Theo Walcott – Came on for Wilshere in the 60th minute and caused Norwich’s back-line a problem with his pace. Set up Arsenal’s third after making a darting run down the wing. 6/10
Lukas Podolski – Looked rusty when he came on in the 60th, failing to control the ball in the box on two occasions. Had a great effort which hit the bar but managed to bang in a low, hard shot from around 16-yards out which found the bottom right hand corner. Needs to regain match fitness. 6/10
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Came on with 10 minutes left to play for Sagna and managed to bag the assist which put Arsenal 2-1. 6/10
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Giroud is so dissapointing I dnt understand why Wenger kept playing him in expense of Podolski who can shoot anytime!!
because podolski has to rest until now from an injury if not he will need surgery next summer
Sincde early in the season I am pondering about this. Poldi is clinical and we would have a dozen more goals if he had played instead of the waste of Giroud. Giroud is – if lucky – a bench player.
Giroud was good and their free kick should not have been given (having said that we benefited from ‘offside’ not given.(Giroud has now scored 15 goals-not bad for firt year in PL)
With such an attacking midfield Arsenal has my grandmother would have managed 15 goals.
Poldi would have scored 30 in the meantime.
Some of you are terribly naive. Giroud has had a better year than Drogba did in his first year.
Podolski needs to rotate with Giroud.
Oxo has to replace the forehead on legs.
Ramsey was unbelievably good, MOTM.
I’m totally disappointed with this this rating. AARON RAMSEY was by far.. the best player on the Arsenal football ground today. Olivier Giroud was a way too erratic with his hold-up play upfront, he made so much bad passes whilst trying to look or seem intelligent.
AARON RAMSEY has been wonderful these past weeks. He works his socks off, he as been putting in so much effort lately.
ramsey was motm, and giroud as much as it is his first season does not just have the workrate and should be woken up by playing LP9 upfront, he is a better sub, rem reading. And arsene deserves credit for getting the subs spot-on.
Fair play to Rambo! Nice to see him get so much deserved praise on here! Def my MOTM for sure 🙂
Was unfair earlier in the season when he was getting alot of abuse whilst still returning to full fitness and being played outta position
…if only Gervinho could step it up a little, get abit more luck and win the fans back which will give him confidence that he obviously needs and then he might stop wasting so many chances…at least he is getting in the right position!
I thought Rambo was MOTM he deliever another pass in da edge of da box 2 wilshere bt i wsnt thnk aaron cn deliver such pass. Am a fun of hm credit 2 rambo nd da ol gunners
I think talk about ratings misses the point with this game. We were lively without being potent. We also did not press high enough up the pitch. We also failed to defend another cross.
The last few weeks (since spurs) we have been playing high tempo football and pressing the other team into mistakes. Yesterday it was missing, possibly because we had an unfit jack in the team, rather than a ‘run his socks off ‘ rosicky.
We had plenty of possession yesterday, but most of it was in front if their midfield.
Why can’t our defenders hold a high line at free kicks and give the keeper a chance? The header for the norwich goal was made at about the 6 yard line!
All of the above is tactical and if we continue like this for the rest of the season, we will struggle to get in cl spots.
The win was nice, but it was tortuous to watch for most of it (until the subs injected some urgency).
I believe that Ramsey was our best performer and for Sagna he should not deceive himself with our jersey bcos he cannot make crosses.
But seriously Giroud did all that was required of him and was involved in all three goals, what more do you people want. He keeps the opposition defenders on pressure which wins us possession ever active and sharp with flicks but still you give him the stick its not fair.