Burnley 1-1 Arsenal, Player Ratings: Xhaka struggles

2:25pm on Saturday 6th March 2021
By Stefan Bienkowski

Arsenal were left wondering what could have been on Saturday when Burnley held them to a frustrating 1-1 draw in the Premier League.

The result means Mikel Arteta’s side have won just two of their last seven league games and currently languish tenth in the English top flight table.

So which of Arteta’s Arsenal stars let him down on the day?

Burnley 1-1 Arsenal: Player Ratings, Match Stats, Player Stats

✔️ GOOD PERFORMANCE

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 6.9

While Arsenal have struggled for consistency recently there’s no doubt that forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has looked back to his best for the London club.

On the left wing the Gabon international showed a huge amount of effort to trouble Burnley’s deep and stubborn defence and managed to get a vital breakthrough in the first half when he danced between two defenders and managed to beat Nick Pope at his front post.

✖ BAD PERFORMANCE

Granit Xhaka: 5.9

Granit Xhaka has undoubtedly been one of Arsenal’s better players this season but there’s no question that he does seem to have bizarre moments of stupidity in his game that seemingly come from nowhere.

That’s what happened on Saturday when the midfielder received a short pass from his goalkeeper and decided to try and swing the ball out wide despite being only a few feet from his own goal mouth.

Instead of finding Callum Chambers out wide, the pass instead hit off Chris Woods and bounced into the back of the Arsenal net. A moment of stupidity that ended up costing Arsenal two points.

Martin Odegaard: 6.3

Despite being signed with much fanfare and the promise of being the kind of playmaker Arsenal perhaps lacked in the first half of the season, Martin Odegaard hasn’t exactly hit the ground running in London.

Saturday’s clash with Burnley was exactly the kind of game that Arteta would have been hoping to see Odegaard play intricate through balls and unlock the stubborn defence but instead the young Norwegian talent offered very little in the middle of the park.

Before being substituted off in the second half, Odegaard managed just 15 passes into the final third and failed to register a single big chance for Arsenal in a game that they desperately needed some creativity from the middle of the park.

Burnley 1-1 Arsenal: Player Ratings, Match Stats, Player Stats