Here are the player ratings from a sloppy London derby devoid of creativity with very few examples of individual quality between both Arsenal and Chelsea. Arsenal emerged the winners 1-0 behind a brilliant header from a corner by makeshift No. 9 Mikel Merino.
Arsenal Player Ratings
GK David Raya, 5.0
Didn’t deserve his clean sheet, as he nearly made one of the blunders of the season by dropping the ball blatantly from a rather tame Marc Cucurella volley. Thankfully for him and Arsenal, the ball barely skidded by the post.
LB Myles Lewis-Skelly, 6.0
He wasn’t ever tested by Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho, and Wesley Fofana on that right side of the Chelsea flank.
CB Gabriel Magalhaes, 6.5
Also very much untested by the Chelsea attack, but when he was called upon to clean up danger, he did so capably.
CB William Saliba, 6.5
Another decent defensive performance against a weak opponent. William Saliba did have a couple of misreads and poor touches, but he did exceptionally well to recover from them as needed.
RB Jurrien Timber, 7.0
Worked hard for his team and was a bright spot on both ends of the pitch. Jurrien Timber is highly underrated outside of the Arsenal – and Dutch – fanbases.
CM Declan Rice, 7.0
Held down the fort well to help Arsenal dominate the midfield battle, and he was an attacking danger early in the game with a couple of shots and a few nifty chances created for his teammates.
DM Thomas Partey, 6.5
Not the best of performances on the ball but was sound positionally and solid defensively, which is all Arsenal needed to see this victory out.
CM Martin Odegaard, 4.5
Had an assist from the corner, though it was a poor delivery that Mikel Merino did amazing to put on target, and three key passes overall. But in truth, this was a dismally disappointing performance from Odegaard, whose passing was inaccurate and overall impact in the game on the final third weak.
Defensively, he was also well below average.
He is playing beneath his standard this season, and Arsenal will need him to play with more fire and more effiency when he takes on former employers Real Madrid in the Champions League.
LW Leandro Trossard, 6.5
A nuisance to the Chelsea defense by drawing a quartet of fouls, but his overall execution in the final third as a passer and finisher did leave a significant amount to be desired.
CF Mikel Merino, 7.5
Scored an exceptional goal with his headed from a corner, looping the ball over Robert Sanchez with his back turned to goal. And he nearly scored an even better second, but Sanchez was equal in reflexes to Merino’s calmly hid – but smoldering in speed- side volley.
RW Gabriel Martinelli, 7.5
Yes, his finishing is abysmal, but Arsenal started him on the right side, primarily, for his intensity, work rate, and ball carrying. And he was by far the biggest threat in this otherwise sloppy London derby on either team, consistently burning his defenders and getting in the box to create havoc.
With better attacking performances from his teammates, Martinelli would have bagged a couple of assists.
Chelsea Player Ratings
GK Robert Sanchez, 4.0
Somewhat redeemed himself with a great save on Merino, but he honestly could have done better for the goal he conceded. Worse yet, he had a handful of basic handling errors and even nearly gifted a goal with a woeful pass straight to Gabriel Martinelli under no pressure. He is a major liability for Chelsea.
LB Marc Cucurella, 4.5
Chelsea have to find a better left back this summer, because Marc Cucurella is severely limited on the ball and doesn’t give the Blues enough firepower going forward with either his one-on-one ability or chance creation. Defensively, he was cooked badly by Martinelli and always needed the extra man to help him.
CB Benoit Badiashile, 7.0
Struggled at first but ended up growing into the game and became Chelsea’s only true positive in defense. Without him, Chelsea would have conceded two before his departure, as he made several brilliant stops one-on-one against Gabriel Martinelli in the second half.
CB Levi Colwill, 5.0
Average at best defensively while misplacing simple passes too easily on the ball. Levi Colwill may be Chelsea’s best overall center back, but even he needs to improve his performances.
RB Wesley Fofana, 3.0
Quite frankly, he could have been sent off thrice. Wesley Fofana was an unmitigated disaster at right back, failing to provide any sort of forward verve while only committing clumsy errors without a single legitimate, ball-winning tackle statistically on his part.
He needs to improve if he wants to prove he has a future at Stamford Bridge.
DM Moises Caicedo, 5.5
Worked hard in midfield, but this wasn’t his day. If Moises Caicedo isn’t outright dominating games defensively, he’s merely treading water. If a young player at the club like Andrey Santos or even new signing Dario Essugo steps up, he may have to watch his back.
DM Reece James, 5.0
It’s good to see him back on the pitch, but, in truth, he didn’t really offer anything. Blame Enzo Maresca, as I have no idea what he was going for tactically here with a top-class right back in midfield and an average center back at right back.
AM Enzo Fernandez, 4.0
Playing Enzo further up the pitch could have paid dividends if everyone else were more up to the task, and you could see glimpses of his chance-creating potential. But as a whole, the Argentinian star was not at it, completing just 73 percent of his passes while getting turned around too easily defensively in transitions.
LW Christopher Nkunku, 4.0
A performance that can only be summed up in one word. Crap. As brilliant as he was in the Bundesliga, Christopher Nkunku has consistently thrown away big opportunities in important games for Chelsea and only seems to step up against the most obvious of opponents.
Nkunku’s worst offense is his lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball, which is simply untenable at the Premier League level. It’s laughable watching him stick out a foot aimlessly to “stop” a cross. He’s as good as gone from Chelsea.
RW Jadon Sancho, 5.0
Poor. Again. You could see the moments where Jadon Sancho was trying to get into the game, and, to be honest, he wasn’t helped by Pedro Neto encroaching and hogging the ball in his area of the field or the fact that Wesley Fofana is the most useless attempt of a right back Chelsea could have managed.
But Sancho has to take accountability for what has become a pattern, and it’s to the point where you wonder if the Sancho that plays in the Premier League is a different person entirely from the one who lit up the Bundesliga. Twice.
CF Pedro Neto, 3.0
A putrid performance from Pedro Neto up top. Enzo Maresca should never go back to this awful experiment and just let Neto hoard possession on the right if he wants to play for himself and not the team. He was lazy defensively, spent more time complaining to the ref, and looked like a Sunday league player when facing up the Arsenal center backs off the dribble. Awful.
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.