Arsenal vs Tottenham player ratings

LONDON — Emerson’s straight red in the 62nd minute took much of the suspense out of what had been another nervy north London derby, as a rattled Tottenham never seriously threatened over the final half-hour in a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates.

North London is red. For now.

[ MORE: Recap, analysis, reaction on Arsenal’s big win ]

Thomas Partey’s return from a knee injury sustained during international duty proved crucial for Mikel Arteta’s men, with the Ghanian opening the scoring in the first half and allowing the Gunners to largely control things in midfield.

Spurs were compact and resilient as always, but counter-attacking opportunities were difficult to come by and Antonio Conte was short on answers once his team went down to 10 men.

Below are the Arsenal vs Tottenham player ratings out of 10, with analysis on each player who took part.

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Arsenal player ratings

Aaron Ramsdale: 6 – Hardly tested in the second half but was played on Harry Kane’s down-the-middle penalty attempt and never seemed fully confident or comfortable. Distribution was solid.

Ben White: 7 – Arteta’s tactical switch after half allowed him to create several chances on dangerous overlapping runs, particularly with Saka. Tallied one assist and could easily have had one more.

Gabriel Magalhaes: 5 – Rash challenge in the box when he seemed to have the time to avoid going to ground set up Kane’s equalizing penalty, though he does deserve credit for bouncing back afterward.

William Saliba: 7.5 – Remained calm and composed at the back for the most part, including closing down Son and Richarlison in the box at different points. Won the ball back time and time again.

Oleksandr Zinchenko: 7 – Typically technical performance as he feels his way back from injury. His metronomic passing helps the Gunners control the speed of the game and he proved his importance.

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Granit Xhaka: 8 – You’d have a compelling case for either he or Partey to be man of the match, as one half of Arsenal’s dominant midfield duo was relentless generating chances and finally grabbed the Gunners an insurance goal in the 67th, but he found himself out of position on occasion in the opening 45.

Thomas Partey: 8.5 – Once again proved to be the lynchpin for Arsenal on both ends, with both his opening goal and his pressing play showing just how crucial his fitness will be moving forward.

Gabriel Martinelli: 7 – Drew the decisive red from Emerson and generally wreaked havoc with individual runs throughout the day.

Martin Odegaard: 6 – A surprisingly quiet day from Arsenal’s captain, who always seemed a step away from finding himself on the ball in dangerous areas.

Bukayo Saka: 7 – Spent most of the early going isolated against multiple defenders, but exhibited an impressive work rate and drew plenty of attention. Great work for the second goal.

Gabriel Jesus: 7.5 – Relatively quiet in the first 45 but Spurs didn’t have an answer after half, deserved his goal and had several other quality chances that went begging.

SubstitutesAlbert Sambi Lokonga (73′ on for Partey): 6 – Showed real, encouraging panache against a Spurs side down to 10 men.Kieran Tierney (73′ on for Zinchenko): 6 – Probed well as an inverted fullback after coming on to give the still-recovering Zinchenko deserved rest.Fabio Vieira (80’ on for Odegaard): N/AEddie Nketiah (80’ on for Jesus): N/ATakehiro Tomiyasu (89’ on for White): N/A

Tottenham player ratings

Hugo Lloris: 4.5 – Uncharacteristically sloppy with his passing and canceled out a couple nice saves with a poor effort on Arsenal’s second goal.

Cristian Romero: 5 – Didn’t cover himself in glory on that second goal either, and he seemed to narrowly avoid a booking multiple times, but he did kickstart multiple counterattacks.

Eric Dier: 5.5 – Played well and marked Jesus capably in the first half, but came a bit undone after Emerson’s red card like the rest of his club.

Clement Lenglet: 6 – Consistently stuck to Saka despite struggling with his trickery and sparked a couple of productive counters. Solid enough.

Ivan Perisic: 5.5 – Found room down the left-hand side several times during the first half but got caught out a bit in the second 45.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg: 6 – Had a thankless task once Spurs went down to 10 men but had some nice moments handling Arsenal in midfield, stepping into tackles and producing changes of possession.

Rodrigo Bentancur: 6.5 – Felt like the best Spurs player on the pitch, never panicking despite Tottenham being outnumbered in central midfield and starting several attacks.

Richarlison: 6 – Disappeared at times, as is his wont, but acquitted himself well enough digging in to help in defense and (as also is his wont) generating great runs seemingly out of nowhere, including on the drawn penalty.

Harry Kane: 6.5 – A classic Kane performance even in defeat, from the penalty goal to his ability to never lose his cool and find ways to take the pressure off his side in a hostile environment.

Heung-min Son: 6 – There were flashes of the Son we’ve grown to know, a first touch here or a dribble there, but the link-up play always seemed to go awry in some small way.

Substitutes Yves Bissouma (71′ on for Perisic): 5 – Part of Conte’s group substitution that was mostly there to see out the defeat.Davinson Sanchez (’71 on for Lenglet): 5 – see aboveMatt Doherty (72′ on for Son): 4 – Some much-needed match time, although some nervy moments in there.Ryan Sessegnon (’71 on for Richarlison) 5 – Conte opted for damage control down to 10 men, turning Sessegnon from a wing-back to part of a back-five.Oliver Skipp (75′ on for Hojbjerg) 5 – Encouraging off the ball, discouraging on it, to be expected for a rusty player

Arsenal vs Tottenham player ratings originally appeared on NBCSports.com