WHZ View: Dawson fails to impress as West Ham crumble to draw v Arsenal
West Ham crumbled on Sunday as they saw a three-goal lead dissipate into nothing against Arsenal at the London Stadium.
Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek put the Hammers into a commanding position after just over 30 minutes of play before David Moyes’ defence pressed the self-destruct button.
Own goals by Soucek and Craig Dawson on either side of half-time before a late Alexandre Lacazette equaliser left the Irons ruing their luck and their defensive lapses as they enter the international break.
Dawson, 30, has been one of the stars of the season at the London Stadium after impressing since joining on loan from Watford in October.
However, the former West Brom defender’s display against Arsenal on Sunday was arguably his worst in claret and blue.
In the image below, you can see how Dawson leaves Lacazette in too much space ahead of the French striker forced Soucek into an own goal.
Once Martin Odegaard’s cross goes in, the ball goes slightly behind Lacazette, who reacts quickly with Dawson rooted to the spot.
After Lacazette picks up the ball, Soucek reacts fast to close him down but unfortunately for the Czech midfielder, the ball deflects off him into the net.
Dawson was once again caught out by Lacazette after the break.
Below you can see how Arsenal have the ball in an area which isn’t too threatening but Lacazette starts to make a run in between right-back Vladimir Coufal and Dawson.
Once the pass is made, Lacazette is still moving forward but, for some reason, Dawson steps forward in what seems like an ill-thought attempt to intercept the ball.
However, that defensive lapse allows Lacazette in on goal.
Luckily for Dawson, Issa Diop spares his blushes by making a goal-line clearance after Lacazette’s shot beat Lukasz Fabianski.
And then there was Dawson’s own-goal which came later in the half, which was completely baffling to see the centre-back absolutely belt the ball into the back of Fabianski’s net.
Dawson, on the whole, has been superb for West Ham this season.
According to stats by WhoScored, he’s been dribbled past just 0.2 times per game this season, which is only bettered by youngster Ben Johnson.
He’s also averaged 1.4 interceptions per game, which ranks him fourth in Moyes’ squad, and four clearances per appearance, which is third-best at the London Stadium.
But in his last two appearances, Dawson’s not looked as solid as he did in the winter.
While the quality of opposition has improved in the last couple of matches, we still wouldn’t expect to see the errors from him we saw on Sunday against Arsenal, who’ve been woeful this season.
Let’s hope Moyes can get Dawson back to his best sooner rather than later because a Champions League spot could genuinely be riding on the defence’s performances between now and the end of the season.
In other West Ham news, Jamie Redknapp claims the Hammers have a huge chance of qualifying for the Champions League.