Arsenal put on a display of wasteful finishing as Tottenham Hotspur did the exact opposite on Wednesday night, with Unai Emery’s side losing 2-0 to crash out of the League Cup.

After a convincing victory over the same opposition in the same stadium earlier in the month, Arsenal fans were confident of a similar performance in the midweek League Cup quarter-final. However, despite a number of first-half chances falling Arsenal’s way, they failed to take a single one, and they ended up 1-0 down at the break.

It was the same story in the second half, with chances falling Arsenal’s way only for Spurs to double their lead with pretty much their only big opportunity. After that, the game was dead, and the Gunners’ efforts to get back into it were half-hearted at best.

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

Goalkeeper and Defence

Petr Cech 4

The advantage of having Cech in the team is his ability to deal with crosses, free-kicks and corners, but there were very few of those to deal with. As a result, there was a lot more focus on two things the 36-year-old isn’t as good at, coming off his line and playing out from the back.

The goalkeeper only managed a pretty woeful 58% pass accuracy and one save from a Christian Eriksen long shot. Other than that, he let the only other two shots on target into the net. You couldn’t really blame him for conceding the one-on-ones, but you just wonder if Bernd Leno would’ve got out to the danger a little earlier.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 5

Maitland-Niles had some good moments, but it was very much throwing him into the deep end playing against Danny Rose and Eriksen. He struggled to win the individual battles, and he perhaps could’ve made more of one or two good positions. It will be a good learning experience, at least.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos 5

Sokratis had a good game in the air, winning twice as many aerial duels as anyone else. However, he got caught up in a challenge with Lucas Moura to open up space for the first goal and he wasn’t ready for the ball over the top to Dele Alli for the second. He also missed a sitter of a header.

Granit Xhaka 5.5

Xhaka was caught out for the first goal, playing Son onside. Centre-back is not his position and any top-six team will exploit that. It was bizarre that Emery decided to keep him there rather than moving him into midfield when Guendouzi went off.

Yet, other than that goal Xhaka actually had a fairly solid game. Credit has to go to the Swiss international for his set-piece deliveries. In particular, his corners were excellent, and it was a shame the players in the box did nothing with them. Mostly as a result of those set-pieces, he created twice as many chances as anyone else in the match.

He likely would’ve made even more happen from midfield.

Nacho Monreal 5

Like Sokratis, Monreal excelled in one area in particular (tackles – he won six) whilst performing averagely in most other areas. He struggled to make anything happen with the ball, failing to create any chances or take any shots on, which is usually an area he does well in.

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Midfield

Matteo Guendouzi 5

Guendouzi didn’t look completely comfortable in this one, as Spurs pressed and forced him into mistakes. The problem is that without Xhaka there’s so much pressure for him to make things happen. He was caught in possession a couple of times and didn’t provide nearly as much defensive cover as his midfield partner.

He also picked up a booking, though that was actually one of his better moments, as it prevented a dangerous breakaway just before half-time. It was a good foul.

Lucas Torreira 7

Once again, despite a couple of poor Arsenal performances this week, you can hardly fault Torreira. He made a game-high seven tackles, three interceptions and completed 91% of his passes.

As mentioned, the problem is he’s missing his usual midfield partner in Granit Xhaka. Matteo Guendouzi, for all his promise, still has some catching up to do in possession compared to the Swiss international. The sooner Xhaka can stop playing centre-back, the better.

Aaron Ramsey 6.5

In general, Ramsey had a pretty good game too. He got the ball out of his feet well for a chance early on, then set up Arsenal’s best opportunity for Henrikh Mkhitaryan to squander. He also had a great effort excellently (and slightly fortuitously) saved by Gazzaniga via the post.

He did have a few loose touches and possibly could’ve turned in Lacazette’s shot in the second half, though he seemed to think he was offside.

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Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 4

After his two goals at the weekend, Mkhitaryan’s finishing was back to being wasteful again. He made the bizarre decision to shoot low and to the near post when one-on-one early on, despite the opening on the far side with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang running in for a rebound or a square ball.

The Armenian international couldn’t keep hold of the ball and didn’t create anything. His movement was good but other than that there were no surprises when he was taken off at half-time.

Alex Iwobi 4.5

Like Mkhitaryan, Iwobi lost the ball too regularly, only completing a couple of successful dribbles whilst being dispossessed twice as often, and making just 71% of his passes accurately. He did create a couple of chances though.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 5.5

Aubameyang started the game well, going close with an early shot. He also looked lively immediately after Alexandre Lacazette came on, setting the Frenchman up for the best chance of the second half. Other than that he had an extremely quiet game.

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Substitutes

Laurent Koscielny 5

Koscielny still hasn’t found his feet defensively. He played Alli onside for the second goal and unintentionally controlled the ball for a Tottenham player later in the half, for another big chance.

On the other hand, his brief appearances since returning have already shown how much more capable he is on the ball than his defensive teammates. He distributes quickly and accurately, and it’s just a shame he’s clearly still not at the races without possession.

Alexandre Lacazette 6

Lacazette had a decent cameo appearance in a difficult period of the game. Arsenal had pretty much given up a minute after he came on and Alli scored, but he was unlucky not to pull one back immediately.

The striker hit the post with a weak-foot shot that was played to him a little behind where he’d want it. After that, he had some good touches, but not enough of them. He should’ve started the match.

Eddie Nketiah 5

Nketiah saw a little more of the ball than Lacazette, despite coming on after the Frenchman, but he couldn’t make anything substantial happen.