Arsenal player ratings: Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka impress as Rob Holding has a shocker
ARSENAL’s winless league run against Manchester City goes on.
The Gunners suffered a 1-0 defeat to the runaway Premier League leaders on Sunday evening, a result which stretched City’s lead at the summit of the table to ten points.
Defeat to City has left the Gunners toiling in 10th place and a whopping 11 points behind fourth-placed West Ham.
Here, SunSport’s Chisanga Malata rates how Arsenal’s stars got on in their latest meeting with Pep Guardiola’s troops
Bernd Leno – 6/10
The German was solid when called upon but was powerless to prevent City from going into the lead.
Made a great save in the 56th minute to stop Iklay Gundogan from doubling the visitor’s lead.
Hector Bellerin – 5
The Spaniard was restricted to sporadic forays up the right wing due to City’s dominance.
Defended valiantly but was at times out of position.
Rob Holding – 4
The former Bolton man was guilty of allowing Raheem Sterling to ghost in behind him to give City the lead less than 90 seconds after kick-off.
Misjudged the flight of the ball on several occasions and looked completely devoid of confidence.
Pablo Mari – 5
Was at sixes and sevens in the early stages of the match and looked hesitant whenever the ball was played into his feet.
He did, however, try on multiple occasions to step into midfield and stop City’s attacks at the source.
Kieran Tierney – 6
The returning Scotland international struggled to deal with the early trickery of Riyad Mahrez, who he should have got closer to in order to prevent him from setting up City’s opener.
Going forward was a different story for the former Celtic man, who provided a useful outlet on the left flank.
Although he let himself down with some of his crosses, his overall attacking play was considerably more impressive than his defensive showing.
Mohamed Elneny – 5
Was anonymous for large parts of the game but tried his best to get close to Kevin de Bruyne and Gundogan.
Granit Xhaka – 5
The normally combative midfielder was guilty of allowing Kevin De Brunye too much time and space on the ball and found himself out of position on more than one occasion.
Bukayo Saka – 6
The young winger was Arsenal’s brightest spark in what was an otherwise disappointing performance from the team.
But unfortunately for Mikel Arteta, the England ace’s team-mates weren’t able to get him on the ball enough to cause the visitors any serious problems.
Martin Odegaard – 5
The Real Madrid loanee, who was signed for his creative prowess, was unable to make any sort of impact in the No.10 role.
The Norwegian’s passing let him down on more than occasion and will have no doubt annoyed his manager.
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Nicolas Pepe – 5
Arsenal’s record signing cut a forlorn figure on the right wing but did little to get himself into the game.
The Ivorian did, however, come close to levelling the score in the first half with a scuffed shot.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 5
The Gunners’ main man cut a frustrated figure for large portions of the match, watching helplessly as City effortlessly retained possession and created chance after chance.
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Alexandre Lacazette (for Pepe, 73) – 5
Like Pepe, the Frenchman was unable to get himself into the game and ended up being a spectator.
Emile Smith Rowe ( for Odeegard, 73) – 5
Was unable to get on the ball in the attacking third but put in a shift defensively.