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[Player Ratings] Crystal Palace 2-2 Arsenal: Mustafi a liability as Ozil disappoints

By mac14 on October 28, 2018

Arsenal’s winning streak came to an end as a controversial late penalty gifted Crystal Palace a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park this afternoon.

We were poor in the first half and fell behind on the stroke of half time as a stupid challenge from Shkodran Mustafi gifted Palace a penalty in the 45th minute. Milivojevic made it 1-0 from the spot before Granit Xhaka levelled things up with a stunning free-kick shortly after half time.

It looked like we were heading to a 12th consecutive win when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang poked home at the far post to make it 2-1 after the referee fortunately failed to spot an Alexandre Lacazette handball.

However, a dive from Wilfried Zaha under minimal contact from Xhaka in the box conned the official and Palace salvaged a point with another Milivojevic spot kick in the 83rd minute.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 6/10 | Poor attempted punch led to the penalty and didn’t look comfortable punching all afternoon. Couldn’t keep out either spot kick.

Bellerin 6/10 | Struggled going forward in the first half and was given some problems in defence. Subbed at the break with a knock.

Mustafi 4/10 | Brainless challenge gave away penalty on the stroke of half-time. Absolutely no need to dive in and go to ground! Also raced out of position in the build up to Palace’s second penalty. A total liability today.

Holding 6.5/10 | A steady performance from Holding – who looks to be in favour under Emery right now. Should certainly start ahead of Mustafi.

Xhaka 6.5/10 | Stunning free-kick made it 1-1 but naive tackle led to the 2-2 penalty – even if it was a dive from Zaha. Solid enough overall in an unfamiliar left-back role but offered nothing going forward.

Torreira 6.5/10 | A busy performance as he worked hard all across the pitch but not sure he enjoyed playing with Guendouzi quite as much as he does with Xhaka. Not at his best.

Guendouzi 6/10 | A lot quieter than we’ve been used to seeing from the Frenchman. Struggled to get a grip of the game at times.

Iwobi 5.5/10 | Struggled to get in to the game on the wing. Nowhere near the kind of form we’ve seen from him recently. Looked tired.

Ozil 5.5/10 | A very disappointing performance our skipper. One great pass in the first half was about as good as it got and he threw a strop after being subbed in the second half.

Aubameyang 6.5/10 | On hand to poke home our second goal at the far post but was otherwise a pretty quite day for the Gabon international. Still think he’s more suited to playing through the middle than out wide.

Lacazette 6/10 | Missed a decent left-footed chance to open the scoring. Worked hard but struggled to cause too many problems and gave away possession in the build up to their equaliser.

Subs:

WATCH THE GOALS FROM ARSENAL’S 2-2 DRAW WITH PALACE

Lichtsteiner 6/10 | On for Bellerin at half time and put some rough tackles in on Zaha.

Welbeck 6/10 | Couple of nice runs and gave us some fresh legs.

Ramsey N/A