Arsenal player ratings v Southampton – ratings reflect weak defence of FA Cup | OneFootball

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Just Arsenal News

·23 January 2021

Arsenal player ratings v Southampton – ratings reflect weak defence of FA Cup

Article image:Arsenal player ratings v Southampton – ratings reflect weak defence of FA Cup

Arsenal has just been knocked out of the FA Cup by Southampton and they will now have to focus on the Premier League and the Europa League.

It was an afternoon to forget for several of Arsenal’s fringe players like Eddie Nketiah and Willian.


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Here is our Arsenal player ratings.

Bernd Leno – 6 One of Arsenal’s best players this afternoon. Made a fine save to deny Che Adams in the first half, but could do nothing about the goal.

Hector Bellerin – 5 Arsenal needed someone to score or create a goal, but he didn’t help going forward but was solid defensively.

Rob Holding – 5 Should have scored for Arsenal, this was far from his best performance for the club.

Gabriel – 4 Very much out of sorts on his return from testing positive for covid-19. Scored an own goal, and maybe he is still feeling after-effects of Covid.

Cedric Soares – 5 Struggled to play out of position and his lack of versatility will not help his first-team chances.

Mohamed Elneny – 4 Pressed into making mistakes for much of the game. He will struggle to play now that Partey is back.

Granit Xhaka – 5 Did better than Elneny while in possession, and did most of the good work that Arsenal did in midfield.

Willian – 3 He is now a proper joke of a signing. Seems too disconnected from what his teammates were trying to achieve.

Nicolas Pepe – 5 Had a terrible first half. Tried to change it in the second half, but couldn’t do anything meaningful. Should be a long time before he starts again.

Gabriel Martinelli – 6 The only Arsenal player that looked like he would do something for the team. Gave the Saints all kinds of problems and unlucky to be taken off.

Eddie Nketiah – 4 Showed why Folarin Balogun might truly be better than him as he struggled and was bullied by the Southampton defence for much of the game.

Substitutes Thomas Partey – 6 Swung the momentum in Arsenal’s favour when he got on, but couldn’t help them get a goal.

Bukayo Saka – 5 Resting him was probably Mikel Arteta’s biggest mistake, and he couldn’t do much when he came on the left-wing.

Alexandre Lacazette – 5 Could do nothing with the few balls that Saka delivered into the box for him.

Manager Mikel Arteta – 3 Terrible team selection, late with subs, this is on him.

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