Arsenal gave away another lead in an incredibly boring draw away to Vitoria to drop their first points of the Europa League group stage.
2Midfield, Wing-Backs and Forwards
Ainsley Maitland-Niles 5.5 – Continues to have trouble with straightforward short passes. He only completed 75% of them despite all of Arsenal’s possession, the lowest of any starter. His recovery runs were good as usual.
Dani Ceballos 4 – Had a poor first half, making slow inaccurate passes and offering little with his set-piece delivery. At first, he seemed to be improving after the break, then he pulled up with an injury and had to be replaced.
Joe Willock 7.5 – A strange choice to come off for Torreira, as Willock was having a good game. He helped push Arsenal forward with four completed dribbles from four attempts, he won nine of his 12 duels and made 92% of his passes including all three long balls. He also made four tackles.
Kieran Tierney 6.5 – Tierney continues to prove threatening with his crosses into the box, and he made some great tackles too. Perhaps the formation didn’t help, but Vitoria players seemed to get a run on him a bit too often.
Nicolas Pépé 7.5 – Another three chances created, Pépé was certainly a threat on set-pieces again, setting up Mustafi’s goal with a free-kick. He also made five tackles, more than anyone else on the team.
Bukayo Saka 6 – Put in one really good cross for Holding to head over, but he struggled to be involved in much of the rest of the game before his substitution.
Gabriel Martinelli 6 – Also struggled to play much of a part in the game, waiting around in forward areas for passes and crosses that never came.
Substitutes
Matteo Guendouzi 7 – A significant improvement on Ceballos in terms of his positivity, long-passing and forward runs. He brought some energy the team had been lacking too, it’s just a shame few others replicated it.
Alexandre Lacazette 6 – Like Martinelli and Saka, Lacazette was barely involved in forward areas, because Arsenal struggled so badly to get the ball into them.
Lucas Torreira 6 – A really strange choice for Arsenal’s third substitution, Torreira made a few short passes and that was it.