After a goalless first half, fans watching the Europa League final were treated to a five-goal conclusion. For Chelsea supporters, it was jubilation as four belonged to their beloved Blues. However, Gooners will want an inquest. Here are your Europa League Final Arsenal player ratings.
Arsenal Player Ratings: Gunners Collapse in Final
Goalkeeper and Defence
Petr Cech – 5
Four goals against is a cruel way to end Petr Cech’s illustrious footballing career. His defence largely left him exposed in the second half leaving him in near-impossible situations. This explains the lop-sided scoreline but it wasn’t all roses for the Arsenal number one.
While he did make a few class saves on the evening, his distribution was as poor as it has been all season. Add to that a howler of a clearance in the first half and Cech’s career ends in a mediocre display.
Sokratis is a no-nonsense sort of defender and showed it again in the Europa League final. Especially in the first half, the Greek international was Arsenal’s best defender and made a few key interventions, most notably in the first half.
However, he was as susceptible as his teammates to ball-watching in the second half, leading to some of the Gunners’ defensive woes. While he will be Arsenal’s best centre-half going into next season, that is more of a condemnation of the club than praise of the player.
This time one year ago fans thought Koscielny’s Arsenal career was over. The Frenchman proved the doubters wrong, however, and made a tremendous comeback this season and was, at times, the club’s best defender.
This was not the case in the Europa League final. He was slow to react all night and given his lack of pace, this lead to the first two Chelsea goals and did much to lose the match for Arsenal.
Nacho Monreal – 4
Arsenal’s defensive players are all over the age of 30 and on the night they looked their ages. Same goes for Monreal. While his mistakes were not as pronounced as many of his teammate’s, they were just as numerous.
Plus, the Spaniard did almost nothing to make up for his mistakes. With a contract due to expire on 30 June, Nacho Monreal‘s Arsenal future looks in real doubt.
Midfield
The young academy product had a decent first half. Wing-back is not his natural position but has done a decent job when called upon to do so. He did enough to negate Eden Hazard for 45 minutes plus had some good looks offensively.
However, like many of his teammates, his second half was dreadful. He didn’t do much to connect the attacking play and then gave away a soft penalty for Chelsea’s third.
Lucas Torreira – 4
Lucas Torreira has been talismanic at times this season for Arsenal. This was not the case on the night. While the Uruguayan didn’t do much to harm the Gunners, he didn’t do much to help the cause.
This is especially true of his second-half display which mainly consisted of hopeful lunges towards the ball instead of truely intelligent challenges. Unai Emery was right to end his night prematurely.
Granit Xhaka – 5
Xhaka is among the club’s most influential player, like it or not. Therefore, his team needed a huge performance from the Swiss international. What they got was a lukewarm display.
He had several excellent passes in the match but was unable to help much defensively due to the shortcomings in his game. Plus, he almost found the back of the net with his first-half screamer which grazed the bar.
Sadly, almost doesn’t count in football.
Sead Kolasinac – 3
Sead Kolasinac is a very predictable player. When he gets the ball, he charges down the flank and into the box and looks to send a hard, low cross into a striker. When it works, it is devastatingly effective, however, when it doesn’t, it is horrifically innate.
Although Xhaka kept setting the wing-back up on an exposed Chelsea right flank, he kept wasting the opportunity. Plus, he was his usual unhelpful self when it came time to defend.
Attack
Mesut Ozil – 4
Mesut Ozil played a few really excellent passes throughout the game. Unfortunately, only one or two lead to even a semblance of a scoring chance. He usually kept it tidy and made sure to retain possession for his team.
He did a decent job filling in for Aaron Ramsey in the role of closing down Jorginho in the first half but didn’t really turn up for the second. It was telling that Joe Willock looked more dangerous on the night than Mesut Ozil.
Both Aubameyang and his strike partner knew coming into the match that they would have to work hard off the ball to create good chances for their team. While both worked hard, it didn’t always come off and they squandered what few chances came their way.
For Aubameyang, his best chance came early in the match, in the ninth minute, where he rushed the shot and missed wide. Like many others, he didn’t do much to help or hinder the cause.
While Aubameyang helps his club with his pace off the ball, Lacazette helps with holding the ball up for his teammates. He did just that fairly well in the first half but found life difficult in the second.
Alexandre Lacazette will have wanted to do better with a first-half cross from Aubameyang but didn’t have many chances outside of that.
Substitutes
Alex Iwobi – 7
Iwobi came on in the second half for Lucas Torreira and made an immediate impact. He first won a free kick from Andreas Christensen and then went on the score his side’s only goal. As an added bonus, it was a real screamer of a strike as well. He looked like one of the few Arsenal players who were ready for the final.
Matteo Guendouzi – 5
Coming on for Nacho Monreal in the second half while facing a huge deficit was a tough position for Guendouzi. He didn’t do anything to hurt his reputation, which has grown hugely in England.
Joe Willock – 6
The final Arsenal substitution came on for Ozil and proceded to play his heart out. Willock combined well with Aubameyang and Lacazette and even got two hopeful shots off. Hopes will be high for the young man going into next season.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
