Liverpool 2 v 2 Arsenal: player ratings

Danny Welbeck didn't have the best game of his life while Olivier Giroud scored his fifth goal in the league. — Danny Welbeck didn’t have the best game of his life while Olivier Giroud scored his fifth goal in the league.

Liverpool v Arsenal
Barclays Premier League
Anfield
Kick off: December 21, 2014 16.00 PM BST

It was an awful performance from the Gunners. Instead of beating 10-men Liverpool and give them a serious blow in the race for the top four, we conceded an equalizer in the 97th minute which gives this draw a taste of defeat.

A lack of fit midfielders was obvious – we couldn’t keep the ball and had one of the worst possession percentages in Arsene Wenger’s era.

Here are the ratings from today’s game:

Wojciech Szczesny | 7.25 (MOTM): Made some great saves but couldn’t do much about the goals as he wasn’t protected by his team-mates. He usually performs well at Anfield.

Don't Miss:

Calum Chambers | 5.0: Couldn’t stop Škrtel from scoring an equalizer. When he signed for Arsenal, he was supposed to be a youngster who would be a back-up for senior defenders. Unfortunately, two serious blows we have suffered – Koscielny’s and Debuchy’s injuries – forced Wenger to use Chambers too much. He is undoubtedly a big talent but being overplayed hasn’t helped him.

Mathieu Debuchy | 7.0: The Frenchman did well and capped his performance with his first goal for Arsenal and has already reached the number of goals Bacary Sagna scored in his last season.

One of rare players that earned his appearance bonus today. Hopefully Koscielny will return soon though so Debuchy can return to his natural position.

Per Mertesacker | 6.0: Failed to deal with the last Liverpool corner that took two points away from us. Needs Koscielny next to him ASAP.

Kieran Gibbs | 6.0: One of the rare fine performers today but wasn’t positioned where he should have been when Škrtel sent his header towards goal.

Mathieu Flamini | 5.0: The Flame was a victim of the fact he was the only real central midfielder to start the match. He was overrun by Liverpool midfielders and lucky not to be sent off in the first half. Then again, he picked an assist for Debuchy’s goal.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | 4.5: He is still not ready to play as a central midfielder. He was a major doubt for the match though so his poor performance might have been as a result of the knock he’s been carrying. Was incredibly wasteful in possession and lost the ball in some dodgy situations.

Alexis Sánchez | 5.0: Arguably the worst performance from the Chilean. He didn’t make an impact like he was expected to and the fact our midfield was non-existing didn’t help either.

Santi Cazorla | 7.25: The Spaniard continued with his fine form and grabbed himself an assist for Giroud’s goal. Could have scored the third goal for us but didn’t finish the counter-attack like he should have – he opted for a shot instead of feeding Monreal on his left.

Danny Welbeck | 5.0: Hard-work is unquestionable but that’s not enough.

Olivier Giroud | 7.0: Scored a goal after making a lovely pass for Cazorla before the Spaniard assisted him. When he was substituted, I knew that crap would hit the fan on set-pieces.

Substitutes:

Francis Coquelin | 6.0: Didn’t excel but didn’t disappoint either.

Joel Campbell| N/A: Was supposed to be a time-wasting option Alas…

Nacho Monreal| N/A: Could have scored our third goal of the game or at least grab an assist. Opted for a poor shot instead of a low cross in the six-yard-box that could have created a match-winner for us.