Blog | Arsenal Player Rankings | 2nd March 2018
Reminder: these scores are based on end product and what a player actually does to help their team win a game. Individual contributions do count, but players only receive the highest marks if the efforts help the team.
This features a list of the top 11 players who have appeared in at least 55% of the team’s games this season. I was hoping to increase that number of minimum games required to make an appearance on this list, but injuries, massive rotation and players being sold have limited those possibilities.
No stability in team selection and poor results going together - it's almost like they're linked somehow...
I changed the title of these posts to Player Rankings because Power Rankings seems a bit laughable at the moment, doesn't it? There's not going to be much cheer here, so let's jump straight into the rankings.
Player Rankings
As usual, the players are listed in reverse order counting down to the best player so far this season.
11. Granit Xhaka - 32 games - average rating: 6.27
Clinging on is the Swiss midfielder who just isn't good enough for the job that Wenger apparently wants him to do. Criticism may be harsh though, and new guidance from a new manager could easily turn him back into the player he was when in the Bundesliga.
10. Jack Wilshere - 27 games - average rating: 6.30
Since coming back into the side, Jack has managed to stay clear of any repeat of previous bad injuries, but little else. With his contract running down, he may well be off in the summer and it doesn't look like that great a loss right now.
9. Petr Cech - 30 games - average rating: 6.37
In all honesty, I never thought he was a great signing in the first place, and has been in continual decline in his entire time at Arsenal. With Ospina on his way out of the club, a new goalkeeper has to be a priority over the summer.
8. Laurent Koscielny - 25 games - average rating: 6.38
Just edging out Cech, the on-field captain hasn't had a great season, and it looks like the wear and tear of trying to play in a Wenger defence has finally ground him down. Ideally, he would be used in a rotation system, but the defence is so poor that he'll probably still be first choice next season.
7. Alex Iwobi - 26 games - average rating: 6.42
A surprising entry on this list (for me, at least), but looking back over the season, he has actually had some end product to his game which a lot of the younger players at the club seriously lack. Still has a long way to go in order to get back to the level we know he cab perform at.
6. Danny Welbeck - 24 games - average rating: 6.48
Another surprisingly high entry, mainly due to how many appearances he's made from the bench. Doubts about his fitness are clearly keeping him out of the starting line-up, plus his confidence is shot - he doesn't look anything like the constantly pestering nuisance he can be for opponents.
5. Olivier Giroud - 24 games - average rating: 6.52
Yes, this is how bad Arsenal have been this season - a current Chelsea player is one of Arsenal's top players for this season. Embarrassing.
4. Sead Kolasinac - 24 games - average rating: 6.64
Still living off his explosive start to the season, niggling injuries and Wenger's lack of faith in one of last year's members of the Bundesliga team of the season means he's missed a lot of the team's worst results and maintained a high ranking as a result.
3. Mesut Ozil - 26 games - average rating: 6.83
You'd expect him to be near the top of the list and he duly delivers, even if he has also under-performed this season. He keeps creating chances though, and would probably top the list if his team-mates could finish, although Ozil's goal contribution could also improve.
2. Nacho Monreal - 27 games - average rating: 6.85
One of my favourite players at the club, a small goal-scoring spree has helped the Spanish full-back climb near the top of the pile. He's a great defender too, but not helped by those alongside him, and injuries have also cost him this season too.
1. Alexandre Lacazette - 28 games - average rating: 6.88
Run into the ground until he broke because he was never given a rest - he may have been substituted regularly, but clearly could have done with some rotation out of the side earlier in the season. Notable that he started contributing more assists once he realised that no-one was going to provide anything for him.
In closing
And there we have it: not a single Arsenal player has managed to average a rating of 7.00 or higher this season and that just isn't good enough, although it certainly reflects how poor Arsenal have been this season.
There has only been one constant for all the failures in the league over the last decade and that is Arsene Wenger. I genuinely believe a new manager could get a lot more from this exact same set of players and that Wenger's time has simply passed and he's not kept up with how the game has changed.
It's sad to say it, but the club's greatest manager has got to go if Arsenal want to ever be great again.
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