This was a defeat that underlined Declan Rice’s importance to Arsenal. Mikel Arteta decided to look at some of his squad players and ended up accusing them of forgetting about the simple things against highly motivated opponents. It must have been jarring for Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Jakub Kiwior, Fábio Vieira, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz to hear Arteta talking about Arsenal failing to compete as West Ham, who swept into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals thanks to some thrilling attacking from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus, capitalised on Rice spending the majority of his first return to the London Stadium on the bench.
There was little structure in midfield with Jorginho playing as the anchor instead of the £105m man. Arsenal were too meek and could have few complaints, even though Arteta felt that West Ham’s opener should not have stood. David Moyes, who claimed his first win over Arsenal as West Ham’s manager, could reflect on a job well done. Edson Álvarez, one of the players brought in to replace Rice, dominated midfield. Bowen starred up front and Kudus scored another magnificent goal. Konstantinos Mavropanos caught the eye against his old side, showing strength and authority next to Nayef Aguerd in central defence.
