Arsenal lost yet another away match on Wednesday night, this time against Leicester City, but for once the team had a valid excuse.

After just 15 minutes, referee Graham Scott reduced Arsenal to 10 men, right after the team had just conceded a goal. At that point it was a massive uphill battle to get back into the game.

It was therefore to Arsenal’s credit that they managed to do so. They got an equaliser in the 53rd minute, and dominated for large parts of the game. Eventually the work they’d put in showed in the final 15 minutes, with the players tiring and Leicester scoring twice to win the match.

Nonetheless, it was a better performance than most away games this year. Here are our individual player ratings:

Defence

Petr Cech 8

Arsenal fans love to put the blame on Cech whenever they lose this season, and unfortunately he’s often deserved the criticism. However, on this occasion he played very well, keeping Arsenal in the game until a late penalty he couldn’t do much about.

His distribution of the ball was also much better, and his kicks straight up to Aubameyang to counter attack gave Arsenal the kind of outlet they needed with 10 men.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 7.5

Maitland-Niles also had a very good game, filling in at right-back. He made one crucial last-man tackle at one end, and created a goal at the other, even though it won’t go down as an assist in the stats. The academy star has had to play all over the pitch this season, so it’s impressive that he’s performed well in each position.

Rob Holding 6.5

Holding had to make a goal-line clearance to keep the score down, and did pretty well in general. It’s hard to blame him for the goals, since only the third was in a position where he could do anything to prevent it.

In that case he was rushing across to cover the right-winger because Kolasinac had ventured up-field in search of an equaliser. Perhaps Mahrez turned him a bit too easily, but it’s difficult to stop without giving away another penalty.

Konstantinos Mavropanos 4

It’s harsh to judge Mavropanos on this performance, because he really only made one mistake, and that error defined the entire match. After two good showings against Manchester United and Burnley, he wasn’t up to the pace quickly enough against Leicester, and let Kelechi Iheanacho get a run at goal.

He decided to bring the Leicester player down, and the referee made a poor decision to send the defender off, even though Rob Holding was coming across to cover. The red card wasn’t Mavropanos’ fault, but the initial defensive error was.

It’s all very reminiscent of Xhaka’s red against Swansea. Referees clearly don’t like new Arsenal signings.

Sead Kolasinac 7

This was better from Kolasinac in general, just as at the weekend. He’s not missing as many passes as he was in the middle of the season, and he’s a threat again in the final third, hitting the post on this occasion. He did commit more fouls than any of the other defenders though.

Midfield

Alex Iwobi 6.5

After a good goal at the weekend, Iwobi was back to his standard performance against Leicester. In other words, playing pretty well until he gets the chance to shoot. He created chances, he linked up play well, and he hit one of the worst shots of the season.

Granit Xhaka 7.5

Xhaka’s good performances over the last few months keep coming, and it was his inch-perfect ball that allowed Maitland-Niles in behind to set up Arsenal’s goal. As usual, he saw more of the ball than anyone else on the pitch, and generally made good use of it.

Of course, we had to see his trademark outside-the-box shot failing to trouble the goalkeeper. Other than that, it was another strong showing.

Aaron Ramsey 6

Ramsey struggled in comparison to his midfield partners. His passes weren’t nearly as accurate, he only created one chance and he didn’t manage a single shot.

Even worse, he lost more than half of his individual duels and was dispossessed more than anyone else on the pitch (five times). If you exclude Mkhitaryan (three times), that’s more than everybody else on the Arsenal team combined.

Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 6.5

Mkhitaryan didn’t play badly in general, and his first half shot required an impressive save. Arsenal always look better overall when he’s in the team, and that was clear even with 10 men.

Unfortunately, he messed up his good work with a rash challenge in the box. Although it was harsh to give a penalty, there was very little danger, so no need to make the tackle in the first place. Overall he made more fouls than anybody else, and got dispossessed more than everyone except Ramsey, so I can’t give him too much credit for this game.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8

Aubameyang put on another impressive individual showing, as he continues to prove that if Arsenal just tighten up at the back he’ll give them chances to win every game.

The striker took more shots than usual as he tried to get the team back into the game, and eventually one of them went in. He gave the team an outlet all match, and is now just one goal away from double figures in the Premier League.

Danny Welbeck 6

Welbeck didn’t really do anything at all before his substitution when Arsenal went down to 10 men.

Substitutes

Shkodran Mustafi 7

Mustafi came in and organised the back line well, considering how poorly they’d started the match. The fact that it took a rash challenge from a forward to eventually breach Arsenal’s 10 men says it all. Unfortunately he wasn’t nearly as good in possession, giving the ball away with almost a third of his attempted passes.

Eddie Nketiah N/A

This was another one of those Nketiah cameo performances where he doesn’t really get a chance to get on the ball, with only a couple of minutes left when he entered the fray. Hopefully he plays a bigger part this weekend.