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.
3Forwards
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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