Arsenal just edged through their Premier League clash against Watford with a 1-0 victory, despite playing most of the game with a man advantage.

Troy Deeney was sent off early on for an elbow in Lucas Torreira’s face, not long after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had given Arsenal the lead by punishing a Ben Foster mistake. However, rather than sparking a spree of goalscoring, that ended up being the only time either side found the net.

Unai Emery won’t care much, as his side got the three away points they desperately needed, moving back up into the top four with a game in hand on Chelsea and a two-point lead on Manchester United.

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

Goalkeeper and Defence

Bernd Leno 8

Leno saved well from Craig Cathcart early on, and then even more impressively from an Etienne Capoue free-kick not long afterwards. Those ended up being the only saves the German had to make, though he did claim one cross well towards the end of the game.

The 27-year-old’s distribution was also good, finding his target 76% of the time, and he earned his clean sheet.

Shkodran Mustafi 7.5

Bar one or two trademark lapses, Mustafi put in a very solid performance playing at right-back and then centre-back. He won six aerial duels, twice anybody else on the pitch, and added two tackles, five clearances and four interceptions in a busy performance.

Laurent Koscielny 7.5

Koscielny wasn’t as effective in the air, but he worked just as hard for the clean sheet and had to win a number of physical duels as you’d expect against Watford. He was also excellent on the ball, with 96% pass accuracy.

Konstantinos Mavropanos 6

Mavropanos made a bit of a rash attempt to barge Andre Gray off the ball which allowed the striker to get into a great position in the opening half an hour. He looked a bit rusty defensively, though he was as good as Koscielny in possession, finding his target with 46 of his 48 passes.

Unai Emery clearly didn’t feel completely comfortable with the Greek international though, as he came off for Matteo Guendouzi after 59 minutes.

Nacho Monreal 7

Monreal read the play well to prevent a tap in after Gray got in behind the defence in the first half. He had a good battle with Daryl Janmaat, which he won about half of the time, with each full-back only creating a solitary chance throughout the 90 minutes.

Midfield

Lucas Torreira 7

Torreira was involved in a lot of contentious incidents in the early stages, one of which resulted in Troy Deeney receiving a red card. There wasn’t much the Uruguayan did to provoke Watford’s physicality, not that the home supporters cared much about that. However, he was to blame for a couple of loose balls in the first half, inviting counters.

Nonetheless, most of his work was very positive, as he pressed Watford high up the field and did complete 91% of his attempted passes. He was withdrawn at half-time, possibly with the second leg against Napoli in mind.

Granit Xhaka 7.5

Back in the team after injury, Xhaka controlled the game from midfield as he always does. He attempted 98 passes, completing 89% of them and creating a couple of chances, and he also had a good shot from the edge of the box well saved by Foster.

Aaron Ramsey 7.5

Fresh from his impressive performance at home to Napoli, Ramsey looked dangerous in front of goal in the first half, picking up nice positions in the box as always. He had to drop back a bit after the break, as Torreira came off for Özil, but maintained his solid performance overall. He came off for a rest after 67 minutes.

Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 5

Mkhitaryan wasn’t as involved as he’d have liked to be in the first half, but it took a great stop to keep him out early on in the second. Not long afterwards he snatched at a good chance created by substitute Mesut Özil, and then missed the target even more embarrassingly five minutes later.

On the positive side, he did work hard, tracking back well to cover for mistakes from his teammates. Still, his half-hearted attempt to win an aerial duel in his own box against Will Hughes could have been punished on another day.

Alex Iwobi 8

Iwobi was Arsenal’s main creative outlet in the first half, creating as many chances (four) as the rest of the team combined. He started the second similarly, chipping a nice ball to Mkhitaryan a few yards out from goal, and bringing his total chances created to seven by the end of the 90 minutes.

Not everything he tried came off, but he consistently provided a threat and even added a team-high three tackles to his performance.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 7.5

Aubameyang scored early on after closing down Ben Foster well and blocking his clearance into the goal. He had another shot just about blocked as he started the game brightly, but didn’t have as many opportunities after that as he should have with the man advantage.

He’ll be a bit disappointed not to have found the target after a Mkhitaryan cross, but at the end of the day he still put away the winning goal.

Substitutes

Mesut Özil 7

Özil came on for Torreira at half-time, and it didn’t take him long to create a couple of good chances for Mkhitaryan. He could’ve done better with a couple of shots of his own though, finding space in the box nicely but not quite connecting with the finishes.

Matteo Guendouzi 6

Guendouzi added some energy in midfield, and he played some nice forward thinking passes. However, he also kicked a five-yard pass straight off the pitch at one point, and he should’ve chipped Özil in for a second goal late on.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8

Maitland-Niles was rested from the start, after playing a lot of games recently, but there’s no doubt he’s been performing well in general. That was the case again in the final 20 minutes, as he supported the attack well and made a vital block at the other end after Gray rounded Leno.