Laurent Koscielny was the stand-out player for Arsenal against Chelsea, scoring a goal and putting in a masterful display that earned him the Man of the Match award, so how come he only got a 6 in the Mail on Sunday’s ratings when they gave Cesar Azpilicueta a 7?

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 19:  Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal celebrates his team's victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC at Emirates Stadium on January 19, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.  (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 19: Laurent Koscielny of Arsenal celebrates his team’s victory after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC at Emirates Stadium on January 19, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Player ratings are somewhat objective but you would expect them to bear some relation to reality but that’s not what we’ve got this weekend with the Mail on Sunday’s player ratings that were so ridiculous I couldn’t just ignore them.

190120 mail on sunday player ratings arsenal v chelsea
Nick Callow’s Player Ratings in the Mail on Sunday

So how do you judge the true merits of a player’s performance? Well, one way would be to look at the stats on WhoScored.com. It’s not a perfect solution, and objectivity plays a part, but they tend to be a good indicator.

Here is a comparison:

Arsenal

Bernd Leno – MoS rating 6, WS rating 6.89

Hector Bellerin – 6/8.26

Sokratis – 7/8.10

Laurent Koscielny – 6/8.63

Sead Kolasinac – 6/7.81

Lucas Torreira – 7/7.79

Granit Xhaka – 7/7.78

Matteo Guendouzi – 6/7.06

Aaron Ramsey – 7/6.72

Alexandre Lacazette – 8/8.52

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6/6.96

Read the Daily Cannon Arsenal v Chelsea player ratings here

Chelsea

Arrizabalaga – 6/6.38

Azpilicueta – 7/6.51

Rudiger 6/6.46

Luiz – 6/6.21

Kante – 6/6.46

Jorghino – 6/6.57

Kovacic – 6/6.17

Pedro – 5/6.32

Willian – 5/6.66

As you can see from the two sets of ratings, the Arsenal ratings bear no resemblance to reality. Four Arsenal players are 8 or above with another three in the high sevens. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a more accurate reflection of the match I watched on Saturday evening.

The Chelsea ratings are pretty much spot on, so if you work from the starting point that Arsenal were better all over the pitch, which even the Chelsea manager admits, then you can only conclude that Callow has deliberately downplayed the Arsenal ratings.

Why he would do that, I have no idea.

Read the Daily Cannon Arsenal v Chelsea player ratings here