Arsenal secured their first Premier League win at home this season as they beat Stoke City comfortably 2-0 after goals from Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud.
Despite the scoreline only being 2-0, the Gunners deserved to win by a much larger margin, with Stoke City’s goalkeeper Jack Butland starring for the visitors.
Here are the player ratings based on the fan average that you voted for on our Player Rater.
Petr Cech – 6.5
Three clean sheets on the trot for the Czech Republican. After a shaky start, he has really improved and looked assured between the sticks. His lowish rating reflects the fact that he didn’t really have anything to do apart from your standard saves and catches. Never looked like conceding.
Hector Bellerin – 7.0
Running out of words for Bellerin, excellent player who plays beyond his years. Should have shot at the end of the game and claimed a goal for himself.
Gabriel Paulista – 7.0
Laurent Koscielny (Man of the Match) – 8.0
A brilliant performance from the Frenchman. He constantly proves that he is a defender of the highest calibre. We never looked like giving Stoke a sniff today and Koscielny was massively to thank for that.
Nacho Monreal – 7.1
Francis Coquelin – 7.8
Coquelin was very impressive. He made the key tackle that won the ball back before Ozil found Walcott to score the crucial opening goal. Strong in the tackle and helped the defence massively today – will need a similar performance against Chelsea next week.
Santi Cazorla – 7.5
Aaron Ramsey – 6.0
Ramsey might be lucky to be in the team against Zagreb after again disappointing, especially in the crucial areas – fluffing his lines when a brilliant goalscoring chance presented itself.
Mesut Ozil (off 83) – 7.6
Ozil’s magic pass gave us the lead and he looked assured and quality all game. Too much quality for the Stoke midfield to contend with.
Alexis Sanchez (off 83) – 7.8
Alexis was extremely unlucky not to score today. The Chilean worked very hard and created a lot of chances for us. He looks to be back to his best and I’m sure it is only a matter of time before he gets his goal – hopefully it comes next week against a weakened Chelsea side.
Theo Walcott (off 76) – 6.6
Walcott will be extremely pleased to get off the mark and score today. In a typical strikers finished, the Englishman timed his run perfectly, before controlling and slotting beyond Butland, who before that seemed unbeatable.
Subs
Olivier Giroud (on 76) – 6.6
Came on, missed a sitter and scored one. Should have won a penalty for obviously being pulled down.
Mikel Arteta (on 83) – 5.9
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (on 83) – 5.7