Arsenal player ratings vs West Ham: Mikel Merino reality check as Mikel Arteta gamble fails | OneFootball

Declan Rice and Gabriel struggle on nightmare afternoon for Gunners

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Your matchday briefing on Arsenal, featuring team news and expert analysis from Simon Collings

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Arsenal’s title hopes suffered a major blow as they lost 1-0 at home to West Ham.

The Gunners were bidding to cut Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points, but they were made to play for a blunt display.

Jarrod Bowen scored the only goal a minute before half-time on a hugely disappointing afternoon for Arsenal.

Dom Smith was at Emirates Stadium to rate the Arsenal players’ performances…

David Raya 5

Couldn’t stop Bowen from giving West Ham the lead. But good distribution.

Jurrien Timber 5

Played high and wide for Arsenal for much of the afternoon, but without seeing a huge amount of the ball.

William Saliba 5

Couldn’t deal with the aerial threat of Tomas Soucek in the first half.

Gabriel 4

Stood off Bowen for an early shot and didn’t engage in Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross to Bowen for the opener.

Riccardo Calafiori 4

Didn’t get close enough to Wan-Bissaka to block his cross. Replaced shortly after half-time.

Declan Rice 4

Didn’t display his usual passing range and allowed Wan-Bissaka’s cross over him for the winning goal.

Thomas Partey 5

Tried to find passes forward, but without always having success. Did OK. Booked.

Martin Odegaard 6

One of the Gunners’ better players. Shot wildly over the bar in the first half but found passing angles and carried the ball into the box.

Ethan Nwaneri 6

After misplacing simple passes early on, recovered in order to showcase his excellent first chance and try to get Arsenal moving.

Leandro Trossard 5

Forced a save with one shot and looked for opportunities to cross, but was often snuffed out by the visitors’ defence. Blazed over with a late chance.

Mikel Merino 6

On the most part, led the line quite well. But the same goalscoring threat he displayed off the bench against Leicester was just never there.

Subs:

Oleksandr Zinchenko (Rice, 56’) 4

Crossed to absolutely no one in the second half when Arsenal were chasing their equaliser. Not a good cameo.

Myles Lewis-Skelly (Calafiori, 56’) 3

Brought on to help a resurgence, but found himself dismissed. Yes, it was a close call, but he was the last man and did appear to prevent a goalscoring opportunity. Will learn from this experience.

Raheem Sterling (Nwaneri, 82’) N/A

Ben White (Saliba, 86’) N/A

Not used: Neto, Tierney, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji