ARSENAL (4-2-3-1):

CECH 8; Bellerin 6, Koscielny 6, Mustafi 6, Monreal 4; Elneny 5 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 74), Coquelin 5; Walcott 6, Iwobi 5 (Perez 67, 4), Ozil 5; Sanchez 6.

Subs (not used): Ospina (gk), Gibbs, Gabriel, Reine-Adelaide, Maitland-Niles.


MIDDLESBROUGH (4-5-1):

7 Valdes: One slight scare when he flapped at a cross, but made two crucial saves from Sanchez, with the second particularly impressive

7 Barragan: Kept Ozil quiet for the vast majority of the game and tucked inside to help protect his centre-halves when required

8 Ayala: Back in the side with Chambers unavailable and right back to his very best – tracked the movement of Arsenal’s players adeptly

9 GIBSON: The stand-out display in a season that continues to see him go from strength to strength – won everything in the penalty area

7 Friend: Handled Walcott superbly as the forward looked to cut in from the flank and timed his tackles to perfection

8 Traore: A revelation on his first Middlesbrough start and would have scored had Cech not made two brilliant saves to deny him

7 De Roon: Produced his best Boro display at the base of midfield as he prevented Arsenal’s midfielders from breaking into the box

8 Clayton: Back in the side to provide some midfield ballast and carried out his instructions to the letter – rock-solid throughout

7 Forshaw: Formed the third prong of Boro’s central-midfield trio and struck the right balance between defence and attack

7 Ramirez: Looked perfectly comfortable breaking on the left-hand side and couldn’t have come any closer with a superb free-kick

6 Negredo: Ran himself into the ground in his lone-striker role, but shot have got a shot away in the dying seconds


Subs:

Downing (for Ramirez, 84)

Stuani (for Negredo, 90)

(not used): Guzan (gk), Fabio, Espinosa, de Sart, Nugent.


Man Of The Match: BEN GIBSON – The centre-half has not stopped improving this season, and must have a great chance of forcing his way into Gareth Southgate’s England squad next month.