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.
2Midfield
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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