Arsenal bow out of the Carabao Cup in just round 4. After a dominating win against Sheffield United on the weekend, Arsenal fans would have been hoping for the same type of performance against West Ham United in the League Cup.
But we were sadly surprised by the dominance West Ham showed at home, walking away 3-1 winners and knocking Arsenal out of the cup. Arteta made 6 changes from the game against Sheffield United and was hoping to give some lads some needed minutes.
The game started off well for Arsenal, they looked to be on the front foot and had most of the ball, with a few early chances denied from the West Ham keeper and their defence, Arsenal looked to play themselves into the game and were dominating the possession from kick off. But only 16 minutes in West Ham were awarded a corner that was whipped into the box and landed on the head of Ben White who headed it into his own net past Aaron Ramsdale, putting West Ham 1-0 up and in the driving seat.
The first half was filled with plenty of chances, but Arsenal was not clinical enough to get back into the game before the half ended. Walking into the tunnel at half time a goal down, but still very much in the game. But unfortunately, the hope was short lived and West Ham came out in the second half looking up for it and with a lot of energy. Only 5 minutes into the second half they managed to go 2-0 up, after an unbelievable switched ball out from the West Ham defence was whipped out to Muhamad Kudus who some how controlled the ball, dropped his shoulder and slotted the ball through Gabriel’s legs and into the bottom left corner, beating Ramsdale.
Only 10 minutes later, West Ham looked to put the nail in Arsenal’s coffin and a ball was crossed into the Arsenal box from the wing and was cleared but only went as far as Jarrad Bowen who was waiting to pounce, Bowen took a shot from outside the box that deflected off Jacob Kiwior’s hip, hit Ramsdale’s flailing arms and into the back of the net, putting his side 3-0 up and out of distance for Arsenal to get back into the game.
In the dying seconds of the game, recently substituted Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard managed to slip one past the West Ham keeper to minimize the damage and the game ended 3-1.
A poor performance from the Arsenal lads and maybe some blame lands on Arteta for all the changes and maybe underestimating West Ham’s resolve to win Cup competitions. Paired with the fact their star boy Declan Rice was returning to his old club for the first time since joining Arsenal, it looked to be a cup final to West Ham and they certainly wanted it more than us.
A disappointing result but that’s football, we now focus on the League, The Champions League and The FA Cup. A tough one to swallow for Arteta and his squad, but we move forward to our games against Newcastle United on the weekend.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? Was it just a bad day at the office that is unlikely to be repeated?
Daisy Mae
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