Arsenal’s long unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday, with a disappointing defeat away to Southampton.

There were some mitigating circumstances to the defeat, with Laurent Koscielny playing his first game back, and every single other senior centre-back either injured or suspended.

Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka had to start the game as centre-backs before yet another injury to Hector Bellerin meant Lichtsteiner had to play at full-back. After Lichtsteiner was also forced off with injury, Arsenal ended the game with Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right-back.

Nonetheless, that’s no excuse for the way Arsenal’s defence threw the game away three times, despite Henrikh Mkhitaryan bringing the Gunners level twice.

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

Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs

Bernd Leno 4

This was Leno’s worst game for Arsenal so far, unfortunately. There was nothing he could do about the first two goals, but he didn’t look commanding on a single cross all game, and Southampton made him pay in the end as he missed a punch and Charlie Austin scored the easiest header of his life.

The goalkeeper did make one fantastic save to deny Maya Yoshida, but in a game like this, it was a commanding presence Arsenal needed, not a shot-stopper. Unfortunately, Leno didn’t provide that presence, but let’s hope he learns from the experience.

Granit Xhaka 5.5

This was a tough one for Xhaka, as he first had to play as a centre-back in a back three, then a back four, despite having almost no experience of either position. In possession, he made 99 accurate passes, as the game still went through him despite his new position.

However, he did play one particularly poor pass to give Southampton the ball in a dangerous area in the first half (fortunately he wasn’t punished). There wasn’t much the midfielder could do about any of the goals.

Laurent Koscielny 4

It was Koscielny’s first Premier League game back, so we shouldn’t be too harsh on him, but all three goals Southampton scored were by players he was closest to. He didn’t get tight enough for the first two, particularly the second where he mistimed a header. Things can only get better as he continues his comeback.

Stephan Lichtsteiner 4.5

Lichtsteiner had a relatively poor first half. Again, you couldn’t really blame him for the goals, but in possession, he offered very little. His pass accuracy (78%) was over 10% lower than either of the other centre-backs. His crossing in the second half also didn’t provide much of a threat. Arsenal will hope Bellerin only picked up a knock.

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

Midfield and Wing-Backs

Nacho Monreal 6.5

Monreal put a great cross in for Arsenal’s first goal, and he had a decent game overall. As usual, he was more effective in his attacking work than his defending. Considering he had to play in two different formations in his first start after injury he wasn’t as bad defensively as some others though.

Matteo Guendouzi 6

Guendouzi did his job for the most part, but he could’ve provided a little more quality in the final third. Against Huddersfield, he was Arsenal’s chief chance creator, but on this occasion, he could only make one. He also snatched at a few opportunities to shoot. It wasn’t a poor performance, but he could’ve done a little more to help out at both ends.

Lucas Torreira 7

The shortest player on Arsenal’s team shouldn’t take much of the blame for the fact Southampton dominated in the air all day.

In fact, Torreira actually won as many defensive aerials as anyone else. He also led Arsenal in tackles and was second only to Mkhitaryan in interceptions. It was a pretty standard Torreira performance surrounded by a lot of much poorer showings from teammates.

Hector Bellerin 6

As with Monreal and Guendouzi, this was neither a particularly good nor a particularly poor performance from Bellerin. He did his job and nothing more. However, his match had a negative slant put on it with his injury just before half-time.

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Forwards

Alex Iwobi 5.5

Unlike Bellerin and Lichtsteiner, Iwobi came off early for tactical reasons, rather than through injury. He didn’t create any chances, and he couldn’t hit the target after a clever backheel gave him an opportunity in the box. He did have a couple of moments of quality though, particularly one skill to beat a Southampton man when trapped in the corner.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 7.5

Mkhitaryan has become the Arsenal fanbase’s scapegoat in recent weeks, with every poor performance blamed solely on him. It was great to see him stepping up on this occasion as a result, bringing Arsenal level twice. The first goal was a good header, the second a bit lucky with a deflection, but it was already on target.

The forward also led the Arsenal team in interceptions. It wasn’t all good though, as he did waste one counter-attack in particular by going for goal instead of finding an overlapping teammate.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 6.5

Aubameyang started the game really brightly, making clever runs and forcing a good save from McCarthy, as well as a couple of fantastic goal-saving tackles from Jan Bednarek. However, he faded towards the end.

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Substitutes

Alexandre Lacazette 7

Lacazette came on at half-time and provided the assist for Mkhitaryan’s second goal not long afterwards. He linked up well with his teammates but didn’t really have any chances of his own. The one that did fall his way was a glancing header which was excellently saved, but the flag went up for offside anyway (seemingly incorrectly).

Mesut Özil 6

Özil came on and created as many chances as any other Arsenal player managed in the full 90 minutes. However, it still wasn’t a particularly impressive cameo, as he lost a few physical duels and was unsuccessful with attempted dummies. He wasn’t quite at the pace of the game despite creating those opportunities for teammates to score.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 7

Maitland-Niles, on the other hand, got up to speed very quickly, making two tackles, two clearances and an interception in just 16 minutes on the pitch. Maybe he could’ve done better with his chances to put a cross in late on though.

If Bellerin and Lichtsteiner are both out injured next week, the 21-year-old seems the obvious choice to replace them on the right.