Arsenal went into today’s game with the chance to go top after bitter rivals Spurs dropped points away to Bournemouth. Visitor Middlesborough were in abysmal form prior to the match, losing 4 out of their last 5 games. It was looking like a walk in the park for the Gunners but it turned out to be anything but…
The visitors certainly had the better of the first half as Petr Cech pulled off a string of excellent saves to stop the likes of Negredo and Ramirez. Arsenal themselves failed to create anything of note bar a few decent free kick positions, that saw the resulting efforts fly over the bar or float harmlessly towards the keeper.
The second half saw a change in tact for the Gunners as they pressed higher up the pitch and upped their tempo. They were ever-so-nearly rewarded when ‘Boro keeper Victor Valdes failed to gather a cross which in turned dropped to Alexis who stabbed the ball across goal but Koscielny couldn’t turn home. The visitors continued to look dangerous on the break, going close with Adama Traore and Alvaro Negredo as the home side struggled to create meaningful openings. Ozil saw his late, late effort ruled out for offside and that was that.
Let’s look at the player ratings.
