Player Ratings & Analysis: Arsenal 3-1 Plymouth

By Randy Osae

• Lukasz Fabianski = 7

Fabianski’s experience was a far cry of his opposite number’s, but the Polish stopper pulled a string of great saves too. Otherwise, Plymouth would have scored almost as much as they created. …which was very little but always poised.

• Bacary Sagna = 7

Sagna did well on the right side of midfield as usual. He was not caught too many times, but Plymouth’s consolation goal left all the Arsenal defenders at fault. It was a relaxed day for Bacary though.

• Johan Djourou = 6.5

He looked shaky and was partly blamable in how Plymouth found some chances. But Johan was always resilient.

• William Gallas = 6.5

Gallas was the most attacking-minded centre-back on the pitch. He drove the team forward, but like his partner in defence, he was not too attentive at the back.

• Mikael Silvestre = 5

Silvestre looked OK till he went off. Maybe he should have lasted longer to have an impact but his replacement Gibbs was superb.

• Abou Diaby = 7.5

Diaby was immense again today. Say whatever, but since the match at Villa Park, Abou has really had an effective part in Arsenal’s play by play moves. He also showed that bold strength of a defensive midfielder to win some vital balls too.

• Aaron Ramsey = 7

Ramsey still lacks the physicality of a midfielder but possesses loads of composure and that makes him similar to Fabregas. Maybe it’s too much composure on the ball which causes them to loose the ball sometimes. Aaron was part of everything that sent Arsenal forward today. Good performance.

• Samir Nasri = 8

Nasri was the absolute mastermind behind Arsenal’s win today. His pace and artistic ability from center-midfield makes Fabregas’ absence well endurable. He could have even grabbed a couple of goals, but Samir was the best player out there today.

• Emmanuel Eboue = 6.5

Eboue showed pace like Walcott today. When on the ball, his touch was of a quick, slick right winger…and that’s what he is supposed to do. Maybe it was not due to the fact that every Arsenal player was a threat in attack today (even Gallas and Djourou) against an obviously feeble Plymouth. But thumbs up to Eboue.

• Robin Van Persie = 7.5

Should be what every skipper does. Captain fantastic. I actually thought Van Persie was a good candidate when the club’s armband was up for the taking, but many might have disagreed. Maybe today’s exquisite show was something to reconsider. He was assistant leader to Nasri in Arsenal’s attack.

• Nicklas Bendtner = 6

Missed chances in the first half, and had he not been involved in the second goal, it would have been another wasteful outing for the Dane. He was active though, but maybe could have put in a few crosses or run with the ball past defenders when he shifted deep on the right.

SUBSTITUTES

• Carlos Vela = 6

Vela was OK. Arsenal were not chasing the game when he came on so he was not asked to be the charger. He tried to dribble too much when in possession in the 18-yard box. Other than that, an average substitute.

• Jack Wilshere = 5

Wilshere did not have much to do with those nine or so minutes. The boy just celebrated his 17th birthday on Thursday and received a lot of cheers when coming on, but you could tell the hype really got into him that you he wanted to over-impress in those few minutes…even so that he failed to get a grip and lost the ball sometimes. But it was a fair cameo for Jack.

• Kieran Gibbs = 7

Absolutely brilliant. His plus side is usually in attack but Gibbs keeps looking more and more like Clichy’s legitimate back-up game after game. A low shot from long range he unleashed in the second half was sublime. He also made some reliable Clichy-like last ditch tackles to spur up play back in Arsenal’s way. Gibbs might just be the younger, inexperienced and English version of Gael Clichy.