hopefuls Arsenal traveled to the London Stadium for the Carabao Cup last 16 against local rivals West Ham United on Wednesday night (November 1).
Beating the Hammers, especially in their own backyard, was always going to be a tough job, but few could have expected such a complete defeat.
David Moyes’s boys set up Mikel Arteta’s side, claiming a strong 3-1 win to progress to the quarter-finals of the 2023-24 Carabao Cup.
Arsenal’s reserves fail to impress in crucial Carabao Cup opener Winning the Carabao Cup is not high on Arteta’s list of priorities, but the way his side were dominated must have taken a toll for the Spanish tactician.
The lack of threat in attack, solidity in midfield and intelligence in defense made Arsenal look dull.
Regulars Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all started on the bench at the London Stadium, leaving room for Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz to make an impact.
Unfortunately, none of the fringe players provide the contribution that Arteta is looking for.
Faithful Ben White scored an own goal in the 16th minute, sending Jarrod Bowen’s corner into the net.
In the 38th minute, Arsenal had a golden opportunity to equalize, but Eddie Nketiah blocked Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross from going over the crossbar.
After overcoming a scare at the end of the first half, West Ham took the lead within 45 seconds and doubled their lead with Mohammed Kudus’ goal in the 50th minute.
Then, deep into stoppage time, Bowen scored, his shot deflected heavily off Jakub Kiwior and past Aaron Ramsdale.
Odegaard made a beautiful shot from the bench in the 90+6 minute, but it was too late for Arsenal to come back.
This was an important match for Nelson, Trossard, Jorginho and Fabio Vieira, as they could have had more playing time with convincing performances.
Vieira, who assisted Odegaard’s goal, was the only player who did anything notable in the match.
Last year, Arsenal’s quest to win the Premier League collapsed after William Saliba suffered a long-term injury.
Arteta brought in a number of key players in the summer to avoid similar incidents this season, but from the looks of it, the bench is not yet ready to replace first-team players.
Arteta blames West Ham’s embarrassment Speaking to the press after the match, the former Manchester City assistant coach took responsibility for Arsenal’s poor performance in the Carabao Cup.
He said (via Arsenal.com): “I’m very disappointed.
Obviously I’m responsible for that, we were eliminated and we wanted to play a very different game, and above all we wanted to be involved in a game like this, which we won.
discussion for 48 hours, in a very different way than we did.
made.
The Gunners, who sit second in the Premier League table, return to action with a clash with Newcastle United on Saturday, November 4.