What went wrong against West Ham
Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal squad dropped 3 very important points against West Ham at the Emirates on Thursday night in which could be a result we look back on later in the season with a lot of ‘what if’s. Arsenal, in my opinion, were the better team on the night and for me, it all came down to luck and not being clinical enough.
Both goals that West Ham scored for me, could have been easily prevented. The first goal, not only was questionable due to VAR but could have easily been cleared out of play by either Gabriel or Zinchenko, but after what looked like some miscommunication by the two defenders, the ball ended up into the path of Bowen and then onto Soucek who made no mistake but to smash the ball into the back of the net, leaving Raya standing between the sticks, wondering what had just happened.
In my opinion, the ball went out of play and I understand that VAR can’t rule out a goal unless they’re 100% sure, but from the still pictures that have been shared everywhere, for me, I see the goal go out past the line and unfortunately because Bowens body is in the way of the camera’s view, VAR couldn’t say the ball had for a fact gone out and West Ham were awarded the goal. Almost the same as what happened against Newcastle, and I think that really took the life out of the squad.
Probably feeling very hard done by, but the Arsenal lads didn’t give up and tried to push forward and create as much as possible. With West Ham sitting back, staying solid and playing a low block, while allowing Arsenal to come at them, worked in their favour, and we just couldn’t punish West Ham for their mistakes.
Odegaard was creating a lot, but the end product wasn’t there, and you can blame that on luck or just not being clinical enough but for me, our front line just isn’t clicking like it was last season. I’m not sure what’s changed. Rice had another great game up to the last minutes when he gave away a penalty, but Raya saved his blushes by saving the shot from the spot, but it just felt like the players around him weren’t giving him the right options.
I think we missed Havertz in the midfield, Trossard had a fantastic game, but Havertz’s height would have been very handy against a tall West Ham backline and Havertz, since joining the club, has made a habit of getting Arsenal back into a game and even scoring a few late goals.
With so many chances, Arsenal fans are understandably starting to worry about the front line and why they don’t seem to be linking up as well as last season. With our titles hopes starting to get worrying, Arteta needs to either invest in a new striker or fix whatever seems to be holding our frontline back this season.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? What went wrong in your opinion?
Daisy Mae
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