Posted by 4-2-3-1, as is the standard under Mikel Arteta, although we didn’t get to see too much of it.
Arsenal shifted to a 4-4-1 following Luiz’s red card, a formation they spent nearly 25 minutes perfecting a week ago against Crystal Palace:
That’s Granit Xhaka playing LCB. More on that later.
Recap
Player Ratings
GK Bernd Leno [DNC Att | +7 Def | +7 Ovr | 90 mins]
Arsenal don’t take anything from this one without Leno’s heroics in goal, and none were better than this one:
He’s making the Arsenal player of the season argument between he and Aubameyang into a legitimate a conversation.
LB Bukayo Saka [+5 Att | -1 Def | +4 Ovr | 90 mins]
Add me to the list of those WTFing the Layvin Kurzawa links, not least because of how well Saka’s played since the Tierney injury. His attacking ability is well known at this point, but he holds his own defensively too. This is literally the first kick following Martinelli’s game-tying goal:
Hudson-Odoi looked well and truly back from his achilles injury, but Saka did more than okay against him. I also loved his energy late in the game when Arsenal were trying to kill the game.
He’s not a first-choice left back for a Premier League winning side (yet). Neither is Kurzawa, especially with Kolasinac and Tierney due to come back this season still.
CB David Luiz [-1 Att | -2 Def | -3 Ovr | 26 mins]
Discussion of his day starts and finishes with his sending off:
I scored the play -3, but I don’t have a huge problem with anything he does. Mustafi’s hung him out to dry and Leno’s already whiffed on Arsenal’s first attempt at rescuing the situation, leaving Luiz 10+ yards to make up in what amounts to a hopeless situation. It’s impressive that he nearly does, and although I don’t think you can complain about the color of the card, another referee may have shown just yellow.
I also loved the Luiz-cam at the end of the game. Was he playing up for the camera? He might have been. That didn’t stop me from enjoying him grabbing his seat and rubbing his forehead in the same way we all were prior to the final corner.
CB Shkodran Mustafi [+4 Att | +2 Def | +6 Ovr | 90 mins]
He earned -5 for the sequence above that saw Luiz sent off. That he recovered to put up a +6 overall is all you need to know about Mustafi’s Arsenal career: Serviceable, until he isn’t.
He was accurate with his passing, and Arsenal should have gotten more out of this ball over the top to Pépé:
Luiz can make that pass. No other CB on the roster even comes close.
He’s also pretty good at getting his body in the way:
Arsenal have played Chelsea twice in three weeks and Mustafi has made critical errors in both games, putting his total errors for the Gunners around 200. Or maybe it just feels that way.
I’m running out of ways to say “He was decent except for the mistake that killed the game for Arsenal.”
RB Hector Bellerin [+6 Att | +3 Def | +9 Ovr | 90 mins]
Let’s start with the goal. He doesn’t even really celebrate, instead running around haphazardly by himself until Holding finally catches up with him. Xhaka and Guendouzi don’t realize he’s somewhere else for about seven seconds.
It’s been a year, almost exactly, since he ruptured his ACL, and while I thought Willian gave him the run around for periods of the game (especially the middle portion), his +9 overall was good enough for second best on the day.
CM Granit Xhaka [+4 Att | +7 Def | +11 Ovr | 90 mins]
He moved to CB after Luiz’s red card, and while I’ll stop short of calling for him to move there full time, he was a God damn revelation in this one.
He made just five negative plays on the day, and only three in the final hour after moving to CB. One was for slipping, another was for getting a toenail to Azpilicueta’s entry pass to Abraham.
It’s difficult to overstate how good his transformation has been under Arteta; his +11 was the high score on a day where only three starters came out negative.
CM Lucas Torreira [+2 Att | +3 Def | +5 Ovr |90 mins]
Here’s his day summed up: Terrific anticipation, poor control and a turnover. He ended up positive on the day because Arsenal did a lot more defending than attacking, but he wasn’t at his bulldogging best in this one.
CAM Mesut Ozil [+/- 0 Att |-4 Def |-4 Ovr | 55 mins]
I’d be curious to know Ozil’s sprinting stats in this one. There can’t have been many:
He completed all 31 of his passes, but only had two positive sequences on the day. He was lost defensively. He’ll have a part to play this season. I’m not sure the squad should be built around him week after week.
RW Nicolas Pépé [+2 Att | -3 Def | -1 Ovr | 81 mins]
More of the same from Arsenal’s record signing. They paid €80 million because of his acceleration, but he consistently leaves passes short, over (or under) hits crosses, and kills the tempo of the team by putting his foot on the ball, waiting for opponents to get into position, then going 1v3.
Arsenal put up with the above because he’s capable of the spectacular. Or at least he’s supposed to be.
Alexis Sanchez was notorious for giving the ball away 15+ times a game, but his goal/assist rate was 0.77 per game. Pépé’s is 0.24. I’m still in the “they will come” camp. It’d be nice if they came sooner rather than later.
ST Alexandre Lacazette [+2 Att | +5 Def | +7 Ovr | 90 mins]
Arsenal are getting a lot defensively from their center forward, and not much else.
It’s impressive, don’t get me wrong. And on a team with Mesut Ozil in it, defensive workrate is at a premium. But it’s still not happening for him in front of goal. In this one he barely had a touch (4) inside the Chelsea box.
Part of that is certainly Arsenal playing with 10 men for over an hour. But Arsenal aren’t regularly playing shorthanded, and he’s still making a goal contribution only once every ~170 Premier League minutes.
Player Chart
Looking Ahead — What does it mean for Burnley?
Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Burnley in August gave them two wins from two. A lot has happened since then.
With injuries and/or suspensions to nearly every Arsenal CB, Burnley’s hoof and hope style might present problems for the Gunners.
However, Arsenal in attack are a new beast under Mike Arteta, and should do enough to see the game out, despite two fluky goals going in their net.
Prediction: Burnley 2 – 3 Arsenal