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[Player ratings] Arsenal 2-1 Cardiff: Lacazette stars but Elneny flops

By mac14 on January 29, 2019

Arsenal made hard work of beating a poor Cardiff City side as we laboured to a 2-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium this evening.

After a poor first half, we broke the deadlock from the penalty spot after Sead Kolasinac was fouled in the area. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made no mistake for 1-0 before Alexandre Lacazette capped another impressive display with a low strike for 2-0 in the 81st minute.

Arsenal wasted the perfect chance to secure a morale-boosting clean sheet as we allowed Cardiff to pull one back in stoppage time but we held on to seal a 2-1 win.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 6/10 | Very few saves to make and could do little for their goal. Looked nervy from crosses at times.

Lichtsteiner 5/10 | Offered very little going forward. Subbed midway through the second half.

Mustafi 6/10 | Dived in to a few too many tackles but made a superb block when it was 0-0.

Monreal 6.5/10 | Deputised well at centre-back. Went about his business quietly – although he may have been lucky not to conceded a first half penalty.

Kolasinac 6.5/10 | Once again he was one of our mains threats going forward. Won the penalty for the all-important opening goal.

Guendouzi 7/10 | A much better performance from Matteo. Gave us some much needed energy and always keen to get on the ball.

Elneny 4/10 | Typical Elneny performance. Did very little before being subbed at half-time. Not good enough to start.

Torreira 6.5/10 | Made a superb recovery tackle in the build-up to the penalty. Still not back to his all-action performances yet though.

Ozil 6.5/10 | Some neat passing and saw lots of the ball but no real stand-out moments. Subbed midway through the second half.

Lacazette 8/10 | Should have had a couple of first half penalties but got the goal his display deserved with a fine strike in the second half. Worked hard once again and set-up Ramsey for a couple of chances.

Aubameyang 6.5/10 | Cool head to make it 1-0 from the spot but wasn’t really involved too much else. Frustrating night at times for him.

Subs:

Watch the goals from Arsenal 2-1 Cardiff here

Iwobi 7/10 | Lively after coming on at half time. Went close to scoring and was a real threat at times.

Jenkinson 5/10 | Great to see him making his first league appearances since 2016!

Ramsey 6/10 | Missed a couple of chance to get on the score-sheet but added some energy in attack.

It was far from vintage Arsenal tonight but we got the job done in the end. I just wish we’d held on for that clean sheet. Man City away on Sunday could be fun….