Leeds Player Ratings: Arsenal 1 - 0 Leeds United. Lots of positives, and losing was barely a negative.

Player ratings are late because of how late I got back from the Emirates last night, apologies for that.

Leeds United fell to an unfortunate 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Leeds were excellent in the first half and dominated the game, but a mix of improvement from Arsenal and a drop-off the Leeds saw the London side win the game 1-0 through a Reiss Nelson goal.

Time now to look at each player and how they performed. As always you can tell me how wrong I am @mightywhitespod or @ThruItAllLUFC on twitter.

STARTING LINE-UP

Illan Meslier - Well, this was promising. Excellent distribution throughout the game and made some good saves. Looked comfortable coming off his line as well. Had already looked good in the u23s but this looked like a keeper who could be number in the future, and isn’t far off right now. 8/10

Luke Ayling - Better first half than second but never dropped to a poor level. 7/10

Ben White - Played very well, although as with the whole team he was better 1st half than 2nd. Strong in the air, excellent with the ball at his feet. 8/10

Gaetano Berardi - In for the captain Liam Cooper and performed admirably. A few more errors than those around him including giving the ball away in poor areas a couple of times, and a couple of poor clearances. Unfortunate that his touch fell to Nelson on the goal. 6.5/10

Barry Douglas - Negative out of the way first, got done by Nicolas Pepe in the build up to the goal and his loss of position and duel resulted in Leeds being all over the place for the rest of the move. Good for the rest of the game, classy on the ball as well. Gives Leeds a different option now he is back in form. 7/10

Kalvin Phillips - All action. Took Mesut Ozil completely out of the game for long periods. Joined in with the attack when he could and was good on the ball. 8.5/10

Jack Harrison - Was everywhere and showed even more work rate than usual, which is saying a lot. Caused real problems both wide and when he came inside to shoot. Only issue was that his end product wasn’t quite there. Had he had a good day on that front it would have been up there for his best Leeds performance. 8/10

Robbie Gotts - Good performance on his debut after his 35 appearances on the bench without playing. Occasionally made the wrong decision, and looked less comfortable than the more experienced players around him but that is to be expected. Looked every bit ready for first team football. Marcelo Bielsa will hopefully be more ready to use him when needed in the league now. 7/10

Mateusz Klich - Tremendous pressing, particularly in the first half, where he won the ball high up the pitch on a couple of occasions. Passed the ball well too. Good game for the Poland international. 7.5/10

Ezgjan Alioski - All the usual work rate and he had a good first half. Unlucky with one shot across goal and an attempted header that was saved well. Dropped off a bit in the second half before being substituted. 7/10

Patrick Bamford - Had a few shots and combined you’d say he probably should score one. Linked up play very well in the first half. Less involved in the second half but by no means poor. 7.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Stuart Dallas (for Gotts, 60mins) - Put himself about in the middle and was a bit more controlled than Gotts, offered less going forward but by this point Arsenal had improved, moved to right-back and was fine in that role. 6.5/10

Helder Costa (for Alioski, 60mins) - Got into some good positions but didn’t do enough once he was there. 6/10

Jordan Stevens (for Ayling, 78mins) - Lively cameo from the winger. Some nice touches but not enough to rate. N/A