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[Player Ratings] Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal: Torriera & Sokratis star for Gunners

By on September 15, 2018

Arsenal secured a third consecutive Premier League victory with a hard fought 2-1 win over Newcastle United at St James’ Park this afternoon.

We were shocking in the first half but were a different side after the break and Granit Xhaka opened the scoring with a stunning free-kick in the 49th minute. Mesut Ozil slotted home for 2-0 ten minutes later and while Newcastle grabbed a late consolation, we held on for all three points.

These are my ratings:

Cech  6/10 | Very little to do in terms of shot-stopping other than pick the ball out the net. Still no clean sheet after Clarke scored a late header and had trouble passing out from the back again.

Bellerin  6/10 | Caught out of position for the Newcastle goal and wasn’t as effective going forward as usual.

Sokratis  7.5/10 | His best performance in an Arsenal shirt. Made one excellent challenge in the first half and covered for Mustafi when he made a mistake.

Mustafi  5/10 | Bailed out by Sokratis when he lost his footing and was lucky on a couple of other occasions when he made an error. Failed to mark Clarke for their goal too.

Monreal  6.5/10 | Solid enough defensively and played his part in our second goal.

Xhaka  7.5/10 | Superb free-kick to open the scoring and played a key role in our second. Much better from the Swiss star.

Guendouzi  6/10 | Struggled to influence things during a poor first half from Arsenal but didn’t really do much wrong either. Subbed at the break.

Aubameyang  6/10 | Should have done better with a chance that he flashed wide but worked hard down the left and kept Newcastle busy with his pace and movement.

Ramsey  6/10 | Wasted a great chance to set-up Aubameyang in the first half. Not as influential as he could be. Still think he’s more effective starting from deeper.

Ozil  6.5/10 | Scored a morale-boosting goal to make it 2-0 and was very good during the latter stages after a quiet opening half. Needs to play centrally to be at his best.

Lacazette  6/10 | Showed some good hold up play and saw his shot blocked in the build up to our second goal. Not too many other chances for the Frenchman.

Subs:

Torreira  7.5/10 | Why doesn’t he start?! On at half-time and changed the game. He was everywhere and added some much-needed energy to our midfield.

Mkhitaryan  5.5/10 | Could have done more to prevent the cross that led to the Newcastle goal.

Welbeck  N/A | Only on for 5 minutes.

We were woeful in the opening forty-five minutes but much better in the second half and deserved the three points overall. We need to build some momentum in the league now but first we have our first Europa League clash against Vorskla on Thursday to worry about…