Arsenal v Hull ratings: Ozil in shadows, Gibbs fails to impress

Mesut Ozil and Kieran Gibbs weren’t at their best as Arsenal defeated Hull City 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.

Arsenal

Petr Cech: Made a few good saves and did well to keep Hull at bay. He produced a particularly important save early in the first-half from Oumar Niasse to keep the scores level. 7

Hector Bellerin: Unusually quiet performance from the Spaniard. Got into some good positions going forward but too often turned back on himself when he could have driven on. 6

Shkodran Mustafi: Impressive reading of the game to keep out Hull. Composed on the ball and kept everything nice and simple. Won a couple of important headers. Gunners’ best defender. 7

Laurent Koscielny: Markovic’s pace caused him problems throughout the game. Caught out of position on a couple of occasions but did his job well enough. 6

Kieran Gibbs: His shot that wasn’t cleared by the Hull defence produced the opening goal of the match. Struggled to keep Markovic and Niasse quiet. Yellow carded when the Hull defenders were asking for a sending off for a last ditch challenge on Markovic. 5

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Provided huge energy in the Gunners engine room to drive Arsene Wenger’s side forward. An awesome run on the hour mark left Hull on the backfoot and should have led to a goal. 7

Francis Coquelin: Broke up play well but gave away a couple of needless fouls. Got an important flicked header away for the Gunners in the last 15 minutes when Hull looked dangerous. Could have offered more going forward. 6

Theo Walcott: Frustrating afternoon summed up when he overreacted about a soft challenge from Harry Maguire by throwing the ball away. Great pace and tricky feet as always but lacked any meaningful penetration. Good opportunity scuffed in the second half. Substituted for Elneny near the end. 6

Mesut Ozil: Dawdled on the ball far too often without finding the right final ball. For all his talent it was another ineffective performance from one of the Gunners’ star men. Too indecisive in key positions. Nice backheel to set up Iwobi was the highlight of his performance. 5

Alex Iwobi: Poor decision-making in the final third and guilty of a couple of bad attempts on goal. Subbed late on. 6

Alexis Sanchez: Typically busy performance from the Chilean – didn’t give Hull’s defenders a minute’s peace. His first goal was a touch fortuitous, but was well deserved for all his hard work. Nicely slotted away the penalty for his second. 8

Substitutes:

Mohamed Elneny (came on for Walcott 69′) Kept the Gunners ticking over. 6

Lucas Perez (came on for Oxlade-Chaberlain 82′) Late shot led to a penalty. 6

Danny Welbeck (came on for Iwobi 82′) No time to have an impact. 5

Hull

Eldin Jakupovic: Almost produced a blooper in the first-half when he miscontrolled in his six-yard box. 6

Omar Elabdellaoui: Struggled against the pace and trickery of Sanchez and Walcott. 5

Andrea Ranocchia: Tight to his man and did the basics well. 6

Harry Maguire: Showed maturity beyond his years with this cool performance. 7

Andrew Robertson: Always a threat getting up the left flank for the Tigers. 6

Tom Huddlestone: Made some poor passes and guilty of not clearing his lines for the opening goal. 5

Lazar Markovic: Put a great ball across the Arsenal box in the first half. Lively. 7

Alfred N’Diaye: Strong figure in the middle for Hull. Drove them on. 6

Sam Clucas: Looked confident on the ball but let players ghost past him far too easily. Handball on the line leading to late sending off. 5

Kamil Grosicki: Created a couple of good opportunities for Marco Silva’s men. 6

Oumar Niasse: The Arsenal defence couldn’t relax with this man around. A constant menace. 7

Substitutes:

Evandro Goebel (came on for Grosicki 60′) Didn’t offer as much as the man he replaced. 5

Ahmed Elmohamady (came on for Elabdellaoui 66′) Gave energy for last spell. 6

Adama Diomande (came on for Huddlestone 78′) Did OK. 6