Blog | Arsenal Player Rankings | November 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 50% of the team’s games so far this season. Hopefully, there'll be fewer injuries and player sales meaning I can slowly up that figure as the season goes on and we see which players Emery rates as his first choice team.
Player Rankings
As usual, the players are listed in reverse order counting down to the best player so far this season. Note: these rankings are only for up to the end of November and do not take into account the fantastic performance against Spurs today.
11. Granit Xhaka - average rating: 6.46
Xhaka is one of those players that looks like he contributes more than he really does - offers too little going forward and possibly even less in defence, which is why he only just scrapes in this time.
10. Hector Bellerin - average rating: 6.50
In what is going to be a running theme in this list, a run of avoidable draws and poor defending has brought the Spaniard back down to earth with a bump, his improvement briefly stalling.
9. Henrikh Mkhitaryan - average rating: 6.67
And to prove the point, Mkhitaryan has jumped ahead of Bellerin despite not actually playing too well at all either - this rating would have got him on to the list by just 0.02 points last month.
8. Alex Iwobi - average rating: 6.77
Like Bellerin, his improving form plateaued somewhat, but it's hard to tell whether it's down to him or the team struggling as a whole.
7. Mesut Ozil - average rating: 6.83
Ozil hasn't played for a while now, and under-performed when he was in the team - Leicester game aside. Definitely needs to contribute more.
6. Aaron Ramsey - average rating: 6.85
The only player on this list who was also on it last month to actually improve their rating for the season; has definitely made the most of his playing time when given the opportunity.
5. Lucas Torreira - average rating: 6.91
Has worked hard and performed well in comparison to his team-mates, but unable to stop a considerable amount of poor defending costing the side goals.
4. Danny Welbeck - average rating: 6.96
Despite his injury ruling him out of the team, Welbeck is still riding high on the list and his absence is probably the main reason why - although will inevitably disappear in the near future.
3. Alexandre Lacazette - average rating: 7.03
Still not quite back to his best, with an injury certainly not helping, but still doing more than most to keep pushing the team forward.
2. Rob Holding - average rating: 7.04
It says something about how well Holding has been playing this season that he's more than half a point clear of the next highest-rated defender. Amazing for such a young player.
1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - average rating: 7.34
Whilst I do think Lacazette is the better all-round forward, Aubameyang just doesn't stop scoring. His conversion rate is just ridiculous, especially considering how often he plays out of position.
In closing
A fair bit of re-shuffling due to Monreal (injury) and Leno (rotation) dropping off the list due to not having made enough appearances and allowing Xhaka and Mkhitaryan to take their places. The German keeper will almost certainly regain his place by the end of December, but that last spot is still up for grabs.
There are a lot of games in the next five weeks, so this list could look very different by the time the next set of rankings is posted at the start of January, with a number of 'reserve' players who have shone in the Carabao Cup and Europa League close to breaking through.
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