Arsenal vs Liverpool Player Ratings: Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey shine

Modified Nov 03, 2013 05:50 GMT

Arsenal vs Liverpool – Aaron Ramsey

Szczesny (52): Despite a couple of hairy moments, the Pole produced some good saves to keep a clean sheet.

Sagna (46): A key player against Liverpool’s 3-5-2, Sagna was particularly impressive in the first half as Arsenal exploited their opponent’s narrow defensive shape. Sagna’s first half heat map below shows the extent to which he worked Aly Cissokho, including the cross for Sagna’s opening goal.

Gibbs (36): A good performance from the England left back, who impressed going forward with two take ons in advanced areas.

Mertesacker (6): Question marks were raised before the game over how the big German would deal with the pace and trickery of Sturridge and Suarez, but Mertesacker played his part in helping his side to a clean sheet. Solid, but without doing much, Mertesacker only won one headed duel and failed to make a tackle or interception. This means that he made the same number of take ons (1) as he did tackles, headed duels and interceptions combine.

Koscielny (27): Did not give the ball away, making 100% of his passes, although this was in large part due to the Frenchman having little of the ball as he made 16 passes.

Arteta(50): Outstanding in the centre of midfield, Arteta made a staggering 94% of his passes, amounting to 100 from 106 attempts.

Rosicky (32): Controlled the midfield well alongside Mikel Arteta and minimised the impact of Mathieu Flamini’s injury on the side’s midfield.

Ramsey (57): The Squawka man of the match, the Welshman capped off a good performance with a stunning strike for Arsenal’s second goal.

Özil (24): Made 71 passes as Arsenal bossed the midfield

Cazorla (51): A contender for man of the match, the Spaniard set the Gunners on their way when ghosted in from the left to finish at the second attempt.

Giroud (16): Led the line well but will be kicking himself for missing a one on one with Mignolet in the second half.

Substitutes

Vermaelen (6): Not on for long as Arsenal saw the game out with ease.

Monreal (9): Tidy in possession, the substitute made 100% of his 17 passes.

Jenkinson (-17 ): Only on for seven minutes and did little of note. Picked up a yellow card for a cynical foul on Suarez.

Liverpool:

Mignolet (17): Little he could do about either goal.

Flanagan (-26): Thrust into the spotlight for his first start of the season, Flanagan suffered in possession on what proved to be a difficult night all round for the youngster. The 3-5-2 formation left him isolated on the right hand side and the youngster only made 69% of his passes, hitting many into wide areas where a right winger would normally be.

Cissokho (-21): Not a great evening for the Frenchman. He endured a torrid first half, picking up a booking for a foul on Sagna and failing to stop the same player delivering the ball in for Cazorla’s goal, and made way at half time to enable Liverpool to switch to a flat back four.

Sakho (29): Scored a performance score of 22 at centre back in the first half, but only 7 in the second half when he switched to left back.

Skrtel (26): Made 10 clearances and completed 95% of his passes.

Kolo Touré (-19): Backed off badly for Ramsey’s goal, and was almost punished by Giroud for sloppiness on the ball in the second half.

Gerrard (-22): A quiet evening in exactly the game that Liverpool needed a captain’s performance.

Lucas (8): Did okay defensively but offered little going forward in a formation that needs dynamic midfielders.

Henderson (7): Made 89% of his passes and filled in at right midfield and eventually right back as Liverpool lost the midfield battle.

Suárez (-13): A frustrating evening for Suarez, who showed glimpses of his quality but was let down by his midfield teammates.

Sturridge (20): Lively when running with the ball he won three out of five take ons, including one that twisted Laurent Koscielny enough to leave him on his backside.