Arsenal vs West Ham: Player Ratings

From the kick-off the Gunners dominated, controlling the ball and popping off a couple shots to test Fabianski. But they struggled to turn their dominance into actual clear cut chances and West Ham unexpectedly capitalised from Arsenal’s lack of conviction. Off the right hand side Bowen entered the box and Saliba brought back the Englishman.

Saliba was exposed by Gabriel and had a contentious foul on Jarrad Bown which tripped him. Benrehama had a fantastic penalty which was blasted down the middle. Arsenal struggled with creating clear cut chances and went in the second half only 4 points ahead of second-place Newcastle United.

In the second half Arsenal started well and at the start of the second half Saka scored a good goal that leveled the score. But in the next 15 minutes Arsenal went for the double and flipped the game on its head. With Saka muscling off the 6 '0 Declan Rice and layed the ball off which got the ball to Martinelli who scored a fantastic left-foot rocket that hit the near-post, which Fabianski should have done better.

Finally in the 69th minute Arsenal finished the job off with a great Eddie Nketiah goal which was full of one-touch passing that led to Nketiah using his body to move past Keher and score a goal across the keeper. From there Arsenal fully dominated the proceedings.

Arsenal Player Ratings

GK: Aaron Ramsdale - 6/10 - Made a couple good saves and was fantastic when distributing the ball. Didn’t have too much to do though especially in the second half.

RB: Ben White - 7/10 - Good Performance. He was solid in both defence and attack with 6 defensive actions and 1 chance created.

CB: William Salliba -5/10 - Was not at his best. Made a few mistakes that could’ve been costly on another day and conceded the penalty that gave West Ham their lead.

CB: Gabriel -7/10 - Defensively superb, albeit when he committed too high up to leave his partner alone but he did win 3 tackles and completed 3 clearances.

LB: Kieran Tierney -6/10- Not too good, not too bad. Wasn’t particularly eye-catching defensively this game.

CM: Martin Odegaard -8/10- Amazing performance from the captain, with 2 assists and 5 chances created. Consistently used his amazing vision to unlock the Hammers defence.

CM: Thomas Partey -7/10- A midfield general. Was commanding in the tackle and kept the ball moving with ease.

CM: Granit Xhaka -7/10- Was not the flashiest player, but he facilitated this Arsenal win and provided the assist for the second goal.

RW: Bukayo Saka -8/10- Well taken goal but his creativity was outstanding in the game. He created 4 chances and constantly drove at the West Ham defence.

ST: Eddie Nketiah -7/10- Fantastic goal, showed a striker’s instinct. His movement was constantly dangerous and if more decisive he could’ve had a brace.

LW: Gabriel Martinelli -7/10- A direct threat in the match, constantly terrifying Coufal every time he picked up the ball. Took his goal well.