Arsenal Player Ratings Against Newcastle: Exquisite Ozil

Arsenal tightened their grip in the quest for 17th consecutive Champions League appearance next season under Arsene Wenger with a comfortable win over Newcastle United. Laurent Koscielny opened the scoring for the London outfit from a delightful free kick from Santi Cazorla before Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud made it 3-0.

This puts them four points clear of Everton with the same number of games played. The Merseyside outfit’s loss against Southampton on Sunday made the job more easier for Arsenal who just need 3 more points from their remaining fixtures to confirm their Champions League berth.

Here are the Arsenal player ratings:

Wojciech Szczesny: A clean sheet for the second game running. Not really threatened by the depleted Newcastle attack albeit a few long shots from Cheik Tiote and Mathieu Debuchy which he handled well.

Rating: 3/5

Bacary Sagna: The French International had a good game. His marauding runs forward caused a havoc for Baggies left back Dummett.

Rating: 3/5

Per Mertesacker: Not the greatest of threats from Newcastle on offer for the tall German. A comfortable night.

Rating: 3/5

Laurent Koscielny: The Frenchman scored his second goal of the season and was solid at the back as well.

Rating: 3.5/5

Nacho Monreal: After a mediocre performance against Hull City last week, the Spaniard turned up for this game in a better way. Was effective both at the back as well as going forward.

Rating: 3.5/5

Mikel Arteta: A much improved performance from the Arsenal captain. These are the games that suits Arteta the most. Calm, composed and collective in front of the back four against a team who had very little to offer.

Rating: 3.5/5

Aaron Ramsey: The Welshman picked up from where he left it against Hull. Although was not directly involved in any of Arsenal’s goals, his movement and link up play with Cazorla was a treat to watch.

Rating: 3.55

Mesut Ozil: Had to say, this was the best performance I have seen from Ozil since his big money move from Real Madrid. Was a delight to watch and rightly taken off by Wenger around the 60th minute mark to avoid more fatigue.

Rating: 4.5/5

Santi Cazorla: His movement caused Alan Pardew’s men all sorts of problems. Cazorla along with Ramsey and Ozil were the pick of the stars. The trio combined effectively and it was good to see Spaniard tracking back and helping Bacary Sagna when Arsenal lost possession. Something which Cazorla fails to do.

Rating: 3.5/5

Lukas Podolski: After scoring 4 goals in the last two games, the German was expected to bury chances this time around. He came close in the second half, but some excellent saves from Tim Krul kept the German at bay. Overall a decent performance.

Rating: 3/5

Olivier Giroud: Scored from an inch perfect cross from Ozil. Otherwise had an average game.

Rating: 3/5