West Ham welcomed Arsenal to the London Stadium on Saturday, which ended up being a disastrous evening for the Hammers, as they lost 5-2.
The Hammers should’ve come into the game full of confidence after beating Newcastle 2-0 away from home last week, but their performance showed otherwise as they found themselves 4-0 down with only 36 minutes played.
Arsenal took the lead with ten minutes played when Gabriel headed home from a corner. Leandro Trossard then doubled the away side’s lead from close range just before the half hour mark.
Bukayo Saka then worked his way into the West Ham box and won his side a penalty as he was brought down by Lucas Paquetá. Martin Ødegaard converted the penalty and gave his side a 3-0 lead with only 34 minutes on the clock.
Just over a minute later, Kai Havertz made it four after a mistake at the back from Max Kilman, gifting the forward a chance one-on-one with Łukasz Fabiański and the German made no mistake slotting the ball past the West Ham keeper.
However, the Hammers did fight back and managed to score two goals in two minutes. Firstly from Aaron Wan-Bissaka who scored his second goal for the club in the space of a week and then a superb free-kick from Emerson halving the deficit.
Despite the fight back from the home side, Arsenal made sure of all three points just before half-time, when Fabiański was adjudged to have punched Gabriel in the face, which saw the Gunners awarded a second penalty which Saka tucked away.
West Ham performed better in the second half but were unable to take any of their chances meaning they fell to their sixth defeat of the season and remain 14th in the table.
Here is what we learnt from the Hammers derby day demolition:
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Kilman showed his weaknesses
After signing for £40 million in the summer, questions were asked whether West Ham overpaid for Kilman. This season he has proved everyone wrong, but against Arsenal, the center half played poorly and was at fault for the Gunners fourth goal.
The 27 year old looked very nervy and unsettled on the ball, which was unlike the defender as he is normally much more composed on the ball. This was also the first time Kilman had been dribbled past since the end of October which just shows how good he has been previously.
Kilman normally passes the ball well, but on Saturday evening he kept miss placing and he was the reason Havertz scored the Gunners fourth as he failed to clear Trossard’s ball over the top.
Against Arsenal was the first time Kilman had been dribbled past since the end of October which shows how good he has been.
Lopetegui will be hoping that Kilman’s performance was a one off and performs better when the Hammers travel to Leicester City on Tuesday night.
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Questions need to be asked of Lopetegui's setup
When the Spaniard came in, it was hoped he would take the club forward but so far that hasn’t been the case.
Plating Arsenal, especially in the first half we saw again that his setup he is trying to use does not work. On many occasions the Gunners were able to run through the West Ham midfield with ease and as well as that the Hammers struggled offensively.
The midfield of Carlos Soler,Tomáš Souček and Paquetá worked well against Newcastle but on Saturday evening they did not have the same effect. The defence was exposed multiple times as Soler and Paquetá found themselves too high up the pitch, which left Souček on his own in midfield.
Lopetegui’s side also struggled to get numbers forward when attacking. Antonio found himself either out wide or playing full-back on numerous occasions which meant Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville struggled to create any chances as nobody was attacking the box.
The Spaniard has lots of options, especially in midfield, so will be hoping he can find a setup that works with the players available otherwise, his job will be on the line again.
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Wan-Bissaka continues to impress
The 27 year old managed to pick up his second goal in a week after opening his account for the Hammers on Monday night against Newcastle.
Wan-Bissaka has managed to score two goals in just 12 games for West Ham whereas it took him 172 appearances to score two goals for his previous club, Manchester United.
Not a single Arsenal player managed to dribble past Wan-Bissaka and the full-back didn’t commit a single foul. The visitors focused most of their attention on Emerson’s side as they were getting no joy against Wan-Bissaka.
Just like against Newcastle, the right-back found himself in attacking positions and driving up the pitch with the ball, which is something we didn’t regularly see from him at Manchester United.
If he continues to perform like he has, the £15 million West Ham spent on the 27 year old will end up being one of the bargains of the season.
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Soler is slowly solidifying his place in midfield
Despite the result, Soler produced another good performance, like his one against Newcastle the previous week.
Questions have been asked about West Ham’s midfield this season as on many occasions they have been poor, but with Soler stepping up in recent weeks, Lopetegui will be thinking that the Spaniard can fill the recent void in midfield.
Even with the West Ham midfield getting caught out against the Gunners, Soler showcased his passing ability and how well he can drive forward with the ball under pressure.
The 27 year old also picked up his first contribution in a West Ham shirt as he set up Wan-Bissaka’s goal with a defence splitting pass that caught all the Arsenal players off guard.
If Soler continues to perform like he has in the last two games, he will find himself in the starting eleven each week.