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Arsenal fell to a heart-wrenching 1-0 defeat against West Ham United at the Emirartes Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday, February 22.
As a result, the Gunners' gap to Liverpool above them stretches to eight points, as they have 53 points from 26 matches. West Ham, on the other hand, create further daylight between themselves and the drop zone as they move up to 30 points.
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The first half saw Arsenal dominate possession but they looked slightly clueless about how to attack once in the final third. Their ever-expanding injury list did not make things easy for manager Mikel Arteta and the team, but despite dominating possession, they failed to create decent chances. West Ham did not create much either, as the first half was a low-key affair.
Arsenal attempted nine first-half shots but just one of those was on target. West Ham, on the other hand, attempted just four shots with one on target, which ended up giving them a shock lead after 44 minutes. Aaron Wan-Bissaka's searching cross found Jarrod Bowen in the box as the latter headed it past David Raya with a deft touch. West Ham carried a slender one-goal lead into the break.
Arsenal's chances of getting anything from the contest became slimmer shortly after the resumption of play. Former West Ham midfielder Declan Rice was subbed off with an injury 11 minutes into the second period and the extent of his injury remains unknown. Few minutes after that, Myles Lewis-Skelly was shown a red card upon VAR review.
The defender brought down Mohammed Kudus at the halfway line with only David Raya for cover. As a result, the referee reversed his yellow and gave Lewis-Skelly his marching orders. The final nail in the coffin came only a few moments later. Ethan Nwaneri picked up an injury and needed to be taken off. As the game progressed towards a close, Arsenal looked stronger.
However, they lacked accuracy in the final third and sometimes, urgency as well. This allowed West Ham to protect their lead and walk away with all three points. On that note, let's take a look at the Gunners' player ratings.
Arsenal Player Ratings
David Raya - 6.5/10
Raya was called upon to make one save for Arsenal but did not have much else to do. He also won two duels.
Jurrien Timber - 7.5/10
Timber put in a strong performance in defence for his team, winning six duels and making two tackles, two interceptions and one clearance. He also played one key pass.
William Saliba - 6.5/10
Saliba went under the radar for most of the match as he put in an average performance in central defence.
Gabriel - 7/10
Gabriel won three duels in defence, making two interceptions, one clearance and one tackle as well.
Riccardo Calafiori - 7/10
Calafiori started the game and won three duels in defence, making two clearances as well. He also attempted one shot on target and played one key pass.
Martin Odegaard - 7/10
Odegaard looked sharp on the ball in certain spells but seemed to lose steam after going 1-0 down, and took too long on the ball at times.
Thomas Partey - 8/10
Partey passed the ball with 93% accuracy, including two key passes. He also won seven duels in defence, making four tackles and one interception.
Declan Rice - 7/10
Rice played a decent first half but barely stepped onto the pitch for the second and was subbed off with a knock.
Ethan Nwaneri - 6.5/10
Nwaneri was unable to make the desired impact on the proceedings for Arsenal and was subbed off after a second-half injury.
Mikel Merino - 6.5/10
The Merino striker experiment did not work out for Arteta in this match as both of his shots were off-target. He also won just six of 18 duels.
Leandro Trossard - 7.5/10
Trossard had a good game for Arsenal as he attempted five shots, played three key passes and also won six duels.
Substitutes
Oleksandr Zinchenko - 6.5/10
The Ukrainian made an appearance off the bench and put in a decent cameo for the Gunners.
Myles Lewis-Skelly - 5/10
He came on and was shown a straight red card for a professional last-man foul.
Raheem Sterling & Ben White - N/A
The pair played very less minutes apiece and do not warrant a rating.
