Arsenal let a 2-2 draw slip in the late stages on Saturday, falling to a one-goal defeat against Chelsea after a spirited fight back from 2-0 down.
After having to start the season against Premier League champions Manchester City, Arsenal moved on to one of their worst away grounds in recent years, Stamford Bridge.
For half an hour it looked like Chelsea might give the Gunners a battering, going 2-0 up and threatening constantly. Then Arsenal made a large number of fantastic chances, took two of them, and went in at half-time on level terms.
After that, only Chelsea seemed to come out with any intent to win in the second half. Eventually they got a late goal through Marcos Alonso, and saw out the final 10 minutes without trouble.
Here are our individual player ratings for the match:
3Forwards
Alex Iwobi 8
A fantastic performance from one of the most heavily criticised members of the Arsenal squad. Iwobi made chances, and took his big opportunity to score after Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang had wasted shots from similar positions. He linked up effectively with Monreal, and covered the Spaniard defensively.
In all honesty, he probably didn’t deserve to come off early, but you can understand Unai Emery rolling the dice.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan 7
Mkhitaryan was good in patches, and poor in others. He took his goal very nicely, which makes you wonder how he managed to mess up his previous – easier – opportunity so badly. As always when Mkhitaryan plays on the right, he made a big number of chances (five), more than anyone else on the pitch. He got an assist as a result.
Sadly, he didn’t cover Bellerin well enough defensively. He didn’t get back for the first goal, and that was one of a number of times he could be seen running back behind the play.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 6
If you replayed this game 10 times, Aubameyang would probably score in all 10 of them. For whatever reason, his ability to finish suddenly disappeared, and he wasted two fantastic chances. Nonetheless, he found goalscoring positions just as impressively as he always does. If he keeps that up he’ll have no problems this season.