Arsenal started slow but finished impressively against Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium, coming from behind to win the match 3-1.

On Monday, Unai Emery’s side continued their record of never being ahead at the half-time break, but that doesn’t really worry Arsenal fans anymore. The Gunners always seem to come out stronger in the second half. This was no exception.

After an unfortunate own goal gave Leicester a lead that they honestly deserved, Arsenal responded with a Mesut Özil goal right before the break. The team then did their usual trick of scoring two quickfire goals in the second half to kill the game, playing some beautiful football along the way.

Let’s take a look at our individual player ratings for the match.

2Midfield

Granit Xhaka 8

Xhaka deserves huge credit for playing the final third of the match as a left-back. It’s never easy playing out of position, but he actually looked very solid. He even managed to get involved in the goal of the match, beating a man before laying the ball off to Torreira to kickstart the counter.

It was a good performance from the Swiss international, overall. He did get dispossessed a couple of times though, whilst playing in the middle.

Lucas Torreira 8.5

Another eye-catching performance from the Uruguayan. He seems to know just the right time to step in and win the ball, to stop some dangerous counter-attacks. Once he has possession, he finds a teammate better than anyone else (bar Özil).

For once, the midfielder managed to usurp Xhaka as the player who spent the most time on the ball throughout the 90 minutes. I can’t see the 22-year-old letting go of his starting XI spot in the league for a while now.

Mesut Özil 9.5

After two defeats in two matches for the German national team over the break, Özil showed them exactly what they’re missing with a world-class performance. The playmaker’s involvement in Arsenal’s third goal, eventually netting him an assist, was pure genius. He also scored one of his own after a one-two with Bellerin.

However, his pass to split the defence and put the right-back in behind for the second goal was pivotal and arguably his best moment. It made Bellerin’s job easy. The captain on the night led the team by example, playing some “sexy football”, as he put it.