Arsenal player ratings: Shkodran Mustafi had a nightmare afternoon against Crystal Palace (Image: GETTY•buildlineup.com)
Arsenal missed a chance to move third in the Premier League after slipping to a 3-2 defeat against Crystal Palace.
Christian Benteke opened the scoring for the Eagles before Mesut Ozil scored with a trademark scuffed finish shortly after the break.
Roy Hodgson’s side took the lead again through Wilfried Zaha then added to their advantage through James McArthur.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored an excellent solo goal to give his side a lifeline but Alex Iwobi missed a glorious chance in the final minutes, leaving the Gunners a point behind third-placed Tottenham.
Express Sport have rated how the Arsenal players performed during their clash with Crystal Palace, but do you agree?
Arsenal player ratings vs Crystal Palace – Premier League
GK: Bernd Leno – 8
Made a fantastic double-save from Cheikhou Kouyate to keep his side in the match and and pulled off several more to keep the Eagles at bay.
RWB: Carl Jenkinson – 3
Played Benteke onside for the opener and looked out of his depth before getting axed at half-time.
RCB: Shkodran Mustafi – 1
Truly woeful.
Caught out by Zaha when trying to be clever and shield the ball then went AWOL for Palace’s third.
Was also booked for diving and will surely be scapegoated by the Arsenal fans for this defeat.
Arsenal player ratings: Mustafi was caught out by Wilfried Zaha (Image: GETTY)
CB: Laurent Koscielny – 6
Looked slightly leggy after so many matches recently, but did his best to organise his rag-tag rearguard and was a rare plus point from a poor team performance.
LCB: Konstantinos Mavropanos – 4
Lost his battle with Benteke, giving away the free-kick that led to the opener.
Withdrawn at half-time but will have learnt from a tough afternoon.
LWB: Sead Kolasinac – 7
One of Arsenal’s most threatening players, consistently getting to the byline but struggled to find team-mates with his final ball.
Found himself up against a tough opponent in Aaron Wan-Bissaka but can be happy with his contribution.
Arsenal player ratings: Sead Kolasinac enjoyed a good battle with Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Image: GETTY)
CM: Matteo Guendouzi – 4
Looked flat and short of energy, particularly alongside the immobile Elneny.
A poor display from the youngster, who was missing the stable presence of Granit Xhaka.
CM: Mohamed Elneny – 5
Charged around making tackles and putting his body on the line, but lacked the quality to really make a difference on the ball.
Too many backwards and sideways passes hampered Arsenal when they were chasing the game.
CAM: Mesut Ozil – 6
Was mediocre for much of the match but that classy chopped finish was another indication of the German’s class.
As always, needs to do more to impact the game.
Arsenal player ratings: Mesut Ozil combined well with Alexandre Lacazette for his goal (Image: GETTY)
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 7
Lovely reverse pass played in Ozil and went close himself despite falling over.
Faded in the second half.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6
Similar to Ozil, was a passenger for much of the match but then turned on the style in one brilliant moment of magic.
Slalomed his way through the Palace defence to give his side hope of a result.
Arsenal player ratings: Do you agree with our scores for the Gunners against Palace? (Image: buildlineup.com)
SUB: Alex Iwobi (on for Mavropanos, 45 mins) – 8
Had an immediate impact with his direct play and had a big hand in Aubameyang’s goal, although the winger should have equalised late on.
SUB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (on for Jenkinson, 45 mins) – 7
Looked so much more comfortable at wing-back than Jenkinson, using his athleticism to help out in attack and defence.
SUB: Lucas Torreira (on for Elneny, 68 mins) – 6
Added more dynamism to Arsenal’s midfield after his introduction.