Integrity Score 115
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
For the second time this season, Arsenal lose by a two goal margin to West Ham. Prior to this match, David Moyes had never won a game at the Emirates Stadium; with West Ham’s starting centre backs both unavailable, it looked to be Arsenal’s game on paper. After questionable defending on the counter and a controversial VAR decision, West Ham were up by one and soaked up the pressure until Mavropanos, the former Arsenal man, added a second from a corner to bury the Gunners.
Player ratings:
Raya: 8
Zinchenko: 4
Gabriel: 6
Saliba: 6.5
White: 5
Rice: 6
Trossard: 4
Ødegaard: 9*
Martinelli: 4.5
Jesus: 4.5
Saka: 5.5
Smith Rowe: 6
Nelson: 5
Nketiah: 5.5
Key stats:
Arsenal had 30(!) shots on goal, with only a staggering 8 being registered as on target attempts (Sofascore).
Arsenal managed 77% possession, but were unable to do anything substantial with it (Sofascore).
West Ham blocked 10 shots from Arsenal players, making a remarkable 38 clearances (Sofascore).
Arsenal had 77 touches in West Ham’s box and still couldn’t find a way through their defence (BBC).
Final thoughts:
West Ham deserved the victory ultimately, they executed their gameplan to perfection and Arsenal only have themselves and wasteful forwards to blame. Ødegaard made 6 key passes, some of them with remarkable footwork, and no one could trouble Areola with efforts most of the time. Jesus missed inexcusable chances, with 2 correctly registering as big chances missed (Sofascore).
Arteta will be heavily thinking of the January transfer window and what he can do to address the issues Arsenal are facing up front. Saka has 3 NPG (non penalty goals), Jesus 3 and Martinelli 2. As much as Arsenal fans may not want to address it, those are not numbers that represent a title winning attack. Whether it is the tweak of system or just a bad patch of form hitting players at once remains to be seen, but it looks highly likely that Arsenal will seek a profile like Ivan Toney’s in January.