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Player Ratings From Arsenal’s Scrappy 2-1 Win Over Leicester

By mac14 on February 10, 2015

A poor second half display meant we had to hang on in the end but Arsenal were able to secure a narrow 2-1 victory over Leicester tonight thanks to first half goals from Koscielny and Walcott. Here are my ratings:

Ospina – 6 – Made a great save to keep it at 2-0 but then moments later he concedes at his near post, which he should have done better with. He had a couple of other nervy moments where he parried the ball away and wasn’t commanding on crosses. I’m still not convinced by him yet.

Bellerin – 6 – Was struggling early in the first half as he was coming far too much inside and left a lot of room for Mahrez to exploit but improved after the break.

Mertesacker – 7.5 – Superb goal-line tackle to deny a certain goal with the score at 1-0 and headed off the line again at 2-0 just before they scored. Held us together at the back.

Koscielny – 7 – Swept home the opening goal and was solid enough defensively. He did lose Kramaric a couple of times which could have been more costly on another day.

Monreal – 6.5 – Quiet and unspectacular as always but was caught out of position a couple of times in the second half.

Coquelin – 6 – His worst performance since coming back into the side. He didn’t win a key header in the build up to their first goal and lost too many challenges in front of the defence. Also didn’t move possession quick enough which seemed to slow down our attacks.

Rosicky – 6 – Very quiet game from Tomas. Not his usual self at all – but he wasn’t the only one.

Walcott – 7 – Missed a great chance to open the scoring in the 15th minute but eventually got his goal with a lovely first time finish for 2-0. Made some excellent runs during the game but barely saw the ball after the break and was subbed. His goals contribution can not be argued with but his general play still seems a little rusty.

Cazorla – 6 – Was on the end of some tough tackles and just couldn’t influence the game, especially after the break.

Ozil – 7 – Excellent in the first half. Lovely pass to find Walcott early on and it was his corner that was tucked home by Kos for the opener. It was also Ozil’s shot that was saved in the build up to Walcott’s goal, but he struggled, like many of his team mates, during the second half.

Alexis – 6 – Suffered a knock to his knee in the first half which clearly hampered his performance. He should have been subbed immediately, but Aleixs being Alexis he insisted on carrying on until he was eventually subbed shortly after half time. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

Subs:

Giroud – 6 – Put himself about but had little success in having an impact on the game. Was given a crazy booking near the end too.

Ramsey – N/A – Only on for minutes before picking up a hamstring injury. Looks like he’ll be out for a few weeks again.

Flamini – N/A – Didn’t do much after replacing Ramsey.

A very promising first half performance was ruined by a terrible display after the break. We looked tired which is understandable after the Tottenham game and Leicester were excellent.

The three points is all that matters in games like these and we’re back in the top four. On to the FA Cup on Saturday….