Arsenal v Brighton ratings: Sanchez shines; all-action Iwobi

Rob McCarthy

We rate the players as Arsenal continued their recent upturn in form with a 2-0 home win over Brighton at The Emirates on Sunday.

The Seagulls made it difficult but goals from Nacho Monreal and Alex Iwobi gave the Gunners all three points on the 21st anniversary of Arsene Wenger’s arrival at the club.

ARSENAL:

Petr Cech: Had very little to do but was efficient when he needed to be. 6 out of 10

Hector Bellerin: Showed plenty of endeavour to get forward and join the attack. 7

Rob Holding: Had a quiet game and was asked very few questions. 6

Shkodran Mustafi: Completely untroubled until Glenn Murray came up, found life a bit tougher after that. 6

Nacho Monreal: Finished well for his goal and was solid throughout. 7

Saed Kolasinac: Plyaed high up the pitch in the left wing-back role and was always available. 6

Alex Iwobi: Another display full of energy and full of enterprise. Great finish for his goal after Sanchez’s backheel. 7

Granit Xhaka: Bossed the midfield alongside Ramsey and showed his quality. 7

Aaron Ramsey: Not quite as influential as usual but put in a decent shift. 6

Alexis Sanchez: The best player on the pitch by a country mile. Was everywhere and produced a sublime piece of skill for Iwobi’s strike. 8

Alexandre Lacazette: Hit the post early on with a thunderbolt but found life tough against the impressive Lewis Dunk at the heart of Brighton’s defence. 6

Substitutes:

Olivier Giroud (on for Lacazette, 71): Missed a late header whenhe should have done better. 6

Theo Walcott (on for Iwobi, 71): Made very little impact. 6

Mohamed Elneny (on for Xhaka, 83): Like for like as Arsene Wenger tried to shut the game down. 5

BRIGHTON:

Mat Ryan: Made some outstanding stops, otherwise the scoreline could have been much worse. 8

Bruno: Struggled to cope with Arsenal’s pacy attacks. 5

Lewis Dunk: Brighton’s best player. Gave Lacazette a tough time and put in a couple of outstanding blocks. 7

Shane Duffy: Struggled alongside the more influential Dunk. 5

Gaetan Bong: Showed some decent pace but was pretty much always on the back foot. 5

Solly March: One of Brighton’s better performers and showed some nice touches. 7

Dale Stephens: Not great on the ball and often over-run in midfield. 5

Davy Propper: Had a couple of efforts at goal and put in a decent shift. 6

Pascal Gross: Had no real influence on the game as Arsenal dominated. 5

Jose Izquierdo: Has great pace and often needed it to get himself out of trouble. 6

Izzy Brown: Used as a makeshift striker but the move did not really work. 6

Substitutes:

Ezequiel Schelotto (on for March, 72): Did not really get involved. 5

Anthony Knockaert (on for Izquierdo, 76): Surprisngly left out of the starting line-up and looked quite lively when he came on. 6

Glenn Murray (on for Brown, 76): Caused more problems for Arsenal’s defence in the 14 minutes he was on then Brown had throughout. 7