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[Ratings] Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal: Bellerin & Aubameyang woeful for toothless Gunners

By mac14 on December 6, 2020

Arsenal languish down in 15th place in the Premier League table after slumping to a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham this evening.

We fell behind early on after being hit by a very predictable counter-attack. Harry Kane released Hueng-min Son and the South Korean cut in on Rob Holding before curling home into the far corner from 25 yards to make it 1-0 to Tottenham in the 13th minute.

Arsenal saw plenty of the ball as we pushed to get back in the game but we didn’t really create any clear-cut chances and Spurs doubled their advantage just before the break. We committed too many players forward and they hit us with another counter. With Thomas Partey hobbling off the pitch, we were totally exposed as Son burst forward before teeing-up Harry Kane to lash home off the bar.

We continued to dominate possession in the second half and had a few half chances to get us back in the game but Tottenham held on to consign Arsenal to yet another defeat.

Here are my ratings:

Leno 6/10 | Couldn’t get near Son’s superb strike and no chance with Kane’s powerful effort either.

Bellerin 4/10 | Left Holding isolated on a number of occasions, including for both goals. No threat going forward either. Very poor display overall.

Gabriel 6.5/10 | Did well in his duels with Kane and carried the ball out of defence to get us moving forward.

Holding 6/10 | Let Son cut in on his right foot far too easily for his goal but was left exposed.

Tierney 7/10 | Put in a few excellent crosses and should have had an assist after finding Aubameyang. Worked hard down the left flank.

Xhaka 5/10 | Left the defence completely exposed for both goals. Usual sideways passing and had no real positive impact on the game.

Partey 6/10 | Saw a few glimpses of his ability as he was excellent on the ball at times but clearly not fit enough to start. Not sure if he aggravated his injury but was seen hobbling off the pitch when Spurs scored their second goal. It left us completely exposed and if he was injured, Partey should have sat in the middle of the pitch to stop play. Costly mistake.

Saka 6/10 | Worked hard and was at least trying to make things happen. Linked up with Tierney a few times.

Willian 5/10 | Another disappointing performance. Always opted for the easy backwards pass rather than trying to push us forward and create sometime. Crossing was poor, too.

Lacazette 7/10 | At least one of our senior players tried. Worked hard and while most things didn’t come off, you can’t fault his effort. Forced Lloris into a decent save midway through the second half.

Aubameyang 5/10 | Worrying form continued. Missed a good chance with a header to get us back in the game at 2-1. We aren’t playing to his strengths but he looks short of confidence and doesn’t always seem interested. A real concern.

Subs:

Ceballos 6/10 | Got on the ball and was trying to makes things happen.

Nketiah 5/10 | No real impact.

Another worrying performance from Arsenal as Arteta played right into Mourinho’s hands. It was so naïve to push up and let Spurs hit us on the counter attack like we did in the first half. Our basic tactics of playing out wide and lumping aimless crosses [42!] into the box also played to Tottenham’s strengths as they easily dealt with them.

Serious questions need to be asked of Arteta’s tactics as they clearly aren’t working….