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.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here