Pranav Shahaney

Sun 11 February 2024 16:01, UK

West Ham endured a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal in front of their home fans at the London Stadium on Sunday, 11 February.

To make things worse for the hosts, Declan Rice returned, scored a goal and provided two assists as he ran the show for the Gunners.

David Moyes tried making changes at the break when his side was down 4-0 but that did not make a difference.

Here are the player ratings from the game:

Alphonse Areola – 4

Conceded a penalty and was fortunate to not be shown a red card. He did make few half decent saves and to say he was arguably one of the best West Ham players despite conceding six goals shows just how bad the rest of his teammates were. He did end up making six saves in the game, per Sofascore.

Vladimir Coufal – 1

Kept getting bullied down the right for West Ham and failed to deal with anything that came his way. Even going forward, he had a zero per cent accuracy with his three cross attempts and even conceded a foul that led to a goal. Was terrible and the Hammers cannot rely on him for the long term.

Kurt Zouma – 0

This game was certainly a contender for the Frenchman’s worst since joining West Ham. It seemed like there was nothing he could do right. He failed to complete any long ball, win any aerial duel, got bullied by the pace and industry of the four Arsenal attackers and it was a sorry state of affairs watching him in the first half. He struggled to even get his defending basics on point and his reaction after conceding the first goal suggests that making him the captain was a big mistake.

Nayef Aguerd – 2

Much like Zouma, Aguerd struggled too and it looked like boys against men when the Hammers backline came up against the Arsenal attack. The Moroccan looked nervous in and out of possession and showed he lacked the nerves to play in such tense games.

Emerson – 3

Offered a bit more threat going forward than Coufal but if the standards are so low then the Hammers are going to get nowhere this season. The Italian showed fight on occasion but with the rest of the players around him being underwhelming, errors soon started creeping into his game.

Tomas Soucek – 2

Was one of the worst passers on the field and constantly appeared to put his side in trouble with his distribution. Did not have that imposing midfield presence either he does normally and many were surprised that Edson Alvarez was taken off and not Soucek.

Edson Alvarez – 3

Was lucky to not be sent off as his nasty challenge on Bukayo Saka could’ve easily been a red and not a yellow. He struggled with his passes as well, completing just nine out of his attempted 13. He also got bullied in the air, winning none of his duels, in what was overall a disappointing display.

Mohammed Kudus – 4

Was kept quiet by Jakub Kiwior and if there was one player who could make a difference, it was the Ghanaian. However, while he was threatening, he often overdid things and was not on the same wavelength as the players around him.

James Ward-Prowse – 5

Was one of the few in Claret and Blue who came out of this game with his reputation intact. Playing in an advanced midfield role, Ward-Prowse looked tidy in possession and always was available to receive the ball and attempted to keep things ticking. He also won his only aerial duel attempt.

Ben Johnson – 0

It clearly is not his fault but the gulf in class is huge between him and Lucas Paqueta. To think that he would do the same job is amateurish and we’re baffled as to what Moyes was thinking there. A zero per cent accuracy with his crosses and aerial duels and it looked precisely like a right-back playing on the left wing trying to be a threat in the final third.

Jarrod Bowen – 3

Meant to lead the line, one would expect most of his involvement to be in the final third and central areas. However, Bowen was drawn so far away from his position that he looked like a midfielder. He was even drifting out wide but struggled to be the out ball Moyes would’ve wanted him to be.

Substitutions

Kalvin Phillips – 4

Konstantinos Mavropanos – 4

Aaron Cresswell – 5

In other West Ham news, David Moyes is now concerned over the temperament of a first-team regular and may decide to axe him after a recent transfer development.

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