Lucas Torreira scored a bicycle kick to win Arsenal all three points against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, as Unai Emery’s side managed to grind out a 1-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium.

This game was more notable for its penalty appeals, injuries and yellow or red card offences than for decent chances.

Both sides struggled to create anything at all, mostly because they spent so much time injuring, fouling and diving. That’s according to the referee, at least, who was keen to stop the game and issue cards for simulation at every opportunity.

Thankfully, Arsenal’s newest hero Lucas Torreira popped up in the final minutes to win the game. Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match:

Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs

Bernd Leno 6.5

It’s hard to give Leno a proper review because he didn’t have anything to do all game. He had no saves to make, nor any high claims. He made one decent punch, and his distribution was good as usual.

Shkodran Mustafi 7

Mustafi adapted pretty well to the two different systems he had to play, and he had a pretty solid game. He wasn’t really tested too often though.

At the other end, Mustafi picked up a controversial yellow card after the referee turned down his penalty appeal and booked him for diving. That was particularly disappointing as it rules the German out of the next game with a suspension. It may not have mattered anyway, as the defender picked up an injury in the second half.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos 8

Sokratis had a very good game, bar one risky shoulder barge in the box late on. Like Mustafi, the centre-back had to adapt to playing in two different positions: First, central in a back three, then as the left-centre-back in a back four for the second half.

The Greek international was certainly most impressive in the opening period and Arsenal did struggle to play out at times without Rob Holding on the left. Nonetheless, Sokratis was excellent at limiting Huddersfield to so few chances. It’s a shame he also picked up a yellow and will be suspended for the next league game too.

Stephan Lichtsteiner 6.5

Like Sokratis on the left, Lichtsteiner wasn’t quite as effective at playing out from the back as other right-sided centre-backs have been. He was solid enough defensively but with his two teammates picking up suspensions and the system not really working, it made perfect sense for Emery to take him off at half-time and avoid another injury.

Click ‘Next’ for Midfield, Wing-Backs, Forwards and Substitutes

Midfield

Matteo Guendouzi 8

On the ball, Guendouzi was impressive, creating five chances and completing 94% of his passes. It was his ball in at the end which led to the winning goal. Arsenal’s problem’s in possession were more to do with the three midfielders not complementing each other particularly well, rather than any individual poor performances or mistakes.

Defensively Guendouzi didn’t have as much impact on the game, with Xhaka and Torreira having to pick up the slack. That wasn’t a major problem though.

Granit Xhaka 8.5

Xhaka had an all-action performance against Huddersfield, winning a huge seven aerials, making five tackles and six clearances, as well as one interception. He also had over 10% of the game’s possession on his own, creating a couple of chances and playing some really nice passes.

It was a captain’s performance, and the only blot on his copybook was the couple of times he decided to shoot from impossible range.

Lucas Torreira 8.5

Torreira didn’t quite have the overall performance Xhaka did, but that’s not to say he wasn’t as solid as usual. Then he boosted his individual rating at the end by stepping up in a big way to score the winner. It was a fantastic bicycle kick from a pretty unlikely source and another day in which he’s endeared himself to the Emirates crowd.

Click ‘Next’ for Wing-Backs, Forwards and Substitutes

Wing-Backs and Forwards

Hector Bellerin 8

Bellerin got forward really well, particularly in the first half, and his link-up play with the forwards was very impressive at times. After Kolasinac caught the eye with his marauding runs forward in recent matches, it was Bellerin’s turn to steal the spotlight offensively.

Undoubtedly, the formation change in the second half limited Bellerin’s ability to get forward. He did pretty well defensively, but again, he wasn’t really tested.

Sead Kolasinac 6.5

Kolasinac did make a few good tackles, but he struggled on the ball, getting dispossessed a couple of times and recording a pass accuracy of 67%, the lowest of any Arsenal starter. He could also have done better with some of the positions he picked up going forward. The way he found space in behind was as positive as usual though.

Alexandre Lacazette 7

Lacazette can feel very hard done by to have had his goal ruled out for offside, considering the Huddersfield defender’s pass surely brought the move into a second phase and should have allowed him to go for the ball.

The striker could’ve done better with his other chance, after finding space in the box and getting the ball caught between his legs. He was likely substituted at half-time to allow Emery to change formation, more than anything else.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 7.5

Similarly, Aubameyang could’ve made more of his chances too, but he found one moment of quality at the end, chipping the ball up for Torreira to finish. The striker didn’t have quite as many clear-cut opportunities as he’ll likely have when Mesut Özil and Aaron Ramsey return, but that’s why he needed to make more of what he did have.

Click ‘Next’ for Substitutes

Substitutes

Alex Iwobi 6

Iwobi and Mkhitaryan came on at half-time to help Arsenal find the opening goal, but arguably neither quite had the desired impact on the game. They both struggled to hold onto the ball, with Iwobi’s pass accuracy at just 63% and Mkhitaryan’s at 68%, and the Nigerian international was also dispossessed a game-high three times.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 6

As above, but Mkhitaryan did at least manage to get a couple of shots off, and didn’t lose the ball quite as much.

Nacho Monreal 7

It was great to see Nacho back, even though it did have to be a centre-back. Given the Spaniard’s talent for finding goals and assists in recent times, it would’ve been nice to see him pushing forward on the left, but needs must. After a solid 45 minutes, let’s hope Monreal is ready for a probable start next weekend.