Arsenal faced off against Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this evening looking to earn a positive result in the North London derby. The Gunners made a poor start to the contest and conceded an early goal to Heung-min Son who scored with a brilliant strike from long range. Harry Kane doubled Spurs’ advantage in the first half injury-time when he found the back of the net with an emphatic finish from a tight angle.
Mikel Arteta’s men were the more dominant team in the second 45 minutes but were toothless in front of the opponent’s goal. Arsenal ended up losing the derby with a disappointing 2-0 scoreline at the English capital.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player performed during the match against Spurs.
GK: Bernd Leno – 6/10
The German keeper got beaten by two terrific finishes in the first half. He didn’t have too much to do in the second.
LB: Kieran Tierney – 6/10
Tierney was solid at the back and did well to keep Steven Bergwijn quiet during the 90 minutes. However, he was poor with his delivery from the left flank.
CB: Gabriel – 6.5/10
Gabriel was quite good when in possession of the ball and didn’t do too much wrong defensively as well. However, conceding two goals in the first 45 minutes won’t please him.
CB: Rob Holding – 5/10
The English centre-back gave Son too much time and space in the lead-up to Spurs’ opener. He got exposed on a couple of occasions but was otherwise quite composed inside his half.
LB: Hector Bellerin – 5/10
The Spaniard was caught out of position on a few occasions and struggled to make a positive impact in the attacking third.
LW: Bukayo Saka – 6/10
Saka worked his socks off and was always willing to drop deep to get on the ball. However, his passes were not good enough to cut open the Tottenham defence.
CM: Granit Xhaka – 5/10
The Swiss international retained possession well but committed too many cheap fouls during the game.
CM: Thomas Partey – 5/10
Partey picked up an injury and was going off the field when Spurs launched a counter-attack and scored their second goal. The lack of communication between him and his teammates was appalling, to say the least.
RW: Willian – 6/10
The Brazilian playmaker tried his best to create plays for others around him, but his passes lacked the cutting edge inside the opponent’s penalty area.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 4/10
The Gabon international looks like a shadow of his former self and never looked like he had a goal in him.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 7/10
The French striker was the only one in Arteta’s side who was not afraid to get a few shots in at goal. He went close to scoring with a well-directed header but was denied by Hugo Lloris’ excellent save.
Substitutes:
CM: Dani Ceballos – 5/10
He kept the ball moving but showed no real invention with his passing.
ST: Eddie Nketiah – 5/10
Nketiah added some energy in the final third but didn’t get many chances to find the back of the net.
