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[Ratings] Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal: Ozil stars but Lacazette struggles

By mac14 on December 26, 2019

Mikel Arteta had to settle for a point in his first game in charge as Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon.

Arsenal looked far better than we’ve seen them this season with the players pressing from the front in a 4-3-3 formation but the final ball was poor and we failed to turn our dominance into clear cut chances.

Typically, we were made to pay as Bournemouth opened the scoring in the 35th minute when Dan Gosling slotted home the hosts first shot on target following some sloppy play at the back from Arsenal.

However, we rallied after the break and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang eventually levelled things in the 71st minute as he turned home a deflected Reiss Nelson shot at the far post to make it 1-1.

Arsenal pushed to find a winner and Alexandre Lacazette wasted a great chance to give Arteta a winning start as he missed when put through on goal so we had to settle for a point.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 6.5/10 | Wasn’t as busy as he has been for most of the season but still made a couple of important saves and was confident at claiming balls into the box.

Maitland-Niles 6/10 | Solid enough at right-back but didn’t get involved too much in the final third. Interestingly, Maitland-Niles tucked in a lot more centrally into midfield when Arsenal were in possession – something Pep Guardiola has done with his right-backs at City.

Luiz 6/10 | Played one lovely pass to release Lacazette but otherwise his long balls were sloppy. A couple of shaky moments in defence.

Sokratis 6.5/10 | Steady performance from the Greek international. Made a couple of big blocks and made a good clearance off the line.

Saka 6/10 | Another solid display in defence filling-in at left-back and he was heavily involved going forwards. Sadly, his delivery was woeful today.

Torreira 7/10 | Played in his proper position in front of the defence and was very good, especially in the first half. Covered every blade of grass and broke up play.

Xhaka 6/10 | Should have done much better to close down and cut out the cross for the opening goal. Nice pass in the build up to the equaliser. Played higher up but not sure the role suits him.

Nelson 6/10 | A mixed afternoon. Saw plenty of the ball and got into some promising positions but final ball was very poor. Not sure why he started over Pepe.

Özil 7.5/10 | Much better. Was at the centre of everything, especially in the first half. Got into some dangerous positions between the lines and created a couple of opportunities. Worked hard without the ball too.

Aubameyang 7.5/10 | Struggled to make a huge impact on the wing until he strung to life after half-time. Went close with a couple of efforts before scoring the equaliser.

Lacazette 5/10 | Low on confidence in front of goal and it showed as he wasted numerous opportunities to test the keeper. One when he was clean through in the second half was a huge miss as he should have converted to win it for Arsenal.

Subs:

Willock 5/10 | Wasted a great last minute chance to win it.

Mustafi, Pepe N/A