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Ratings: Ozil & Cazorla On Fire As Arsenal Beat Middlesbrough 2-0

By on February 15, 2015

Arsenal booked their place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough this afternoon. Olivier Giroud bagged himself a first half brace but Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla in particular were outstanding.

Here are my ratings from the game:

Szczesny – 6 – Had very little to do throughout the ninety minutes so didn’t really get a chance to stake his claim for the No.1 jersey again.

Chambers – 7.5 – A very good all-round performance. Solid at the back and always keen to get forward.

Gabriel – 7.5 – Strong tackling, decent on the ball, good in the air….I like this guy already. Booked for a cynical foul but very promising debut.

Koscielny – 7 – A comfortable afternoon for Kos.

Gibbs – 7.5 – Looked like a man who wanted his place back. Very good from Gibbsy today and grabbed an assist for the opener.

Flamini – 7 – Went about his job well. Sat in front of the defence and broke up any rare attacks.

Cazorla – 9 – Back to his best after a few quiet games. Superb pass to Gibbs in the build up for the opener and his combinations with Ozil were a joy to watch.

Welbeck – 6 – Got into plenty of promising positions but his final ball was disappointing on the whole.

Ozil – 9 – Outstanding display. Pretty-much everything went through the German and he cut Boro to bits with his through-balls. All his performance lacked was an assist or goal.

Alexis – 8 – Back to his best. Was a nightmare for the visitors defence all game with his trickery and work rate. Quick thinking to take the corner early for Giroud’s second goal.

Giroud – 8 – Clinical finish for his first and stunning volley for the second. His link-up play was a little frustrating at times but you can’t argue with his contribution overall.

Subs:

Walcott – 6 – Should have made it 3-0 late on but saw his effort saved when clean through.

Rosicky – 7 – Superb pass to set Theo free. Slotted in seamlessly into our free-flowing game.

Akpom -N/A – On too late

Overall, this was an excellent performance from the team. We totally dominated the game and created plenty of chances. The only criticism is that we failed to take them and kill the game off.

So we’re in to the last 8 and with so many big teams already out (and hopefully Man Utd to follow tomorrow) we have a great chance of getting to Wembley again.