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Football fans on social media have trolled and criticized Arsenal for suffering a humiliating exit from the EFL Cup after losing 3-1 to West Ham United.
The Gunners visited the London Stadium for a fourth-round fixture on Wednesday, November 1. Mikel Arteta made six changes to the team that thrashed Sheffield United 5-0 over the weekend.
David Raya, William Saliba, Declan Rice, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli all dropped out. Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Magalhaes, Fabio Vieira, Jorginho, Reiss Nelson and Leandro Trossard took their places.
The Hammers, meanwhile, made five changes from their 1-0 home defeat to Everton over the weekend.
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Despite naming a fairly strong albeit changed side, Arsenal fell to a demoralizing defeat. Ben White's 16th-minute own-goal set the tone before West Ham doubled their lead through Mohammed Kudus five minutes after half-time.
Jarrod Bowen made it 3-0 on the hour-mark, making Martin Odegaard's strike deep into a stoppage time a mere consolation.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) took the chance to have some fun at the Gunners' expense, with one of them writing:
"Focusing on the laugue gimmick is about to start"
Another captioned an image of West Ham's starting line-up with this:
"Maybe we should buy the rest of their team"
Here are some more reactions from fans:
Arsenal put on a fairly uninspiring display at the London Stadium on Wednesday, creating just one big chance (which they missed). They recorded 72% possession, but got just three of their 14 shot attempts on target.
West Ham, meanwhile, took five shots and got three on target, scoring with two.
Arteta's men also lost possession more times (112 to 94) and won fewer duels (43 to 50) compared to David Moyes' side.
"I'm very disappointed" - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta after defeat to West Ham United
Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta expressed his disappointment with their exit from the EFL Cup, saying (as quoted by Arsenal's official website):
"I'm very disappointed. Obviously I'm responsible for that, we are out of the cup and we wanted to play a very different game, and especially we wanted to compete in a game like this, which we discussed for 48 hours, in a very different way to what we've done."
Gunners midfielder Jorginho, who captained them in the game against West Ham United, called for improvement from his team, saying (via the same source):
"Yeah, really tough one. The only thing we can take from this tough result is how we need to be much better at competing for the next game. Because if you’re going to play at this level, you won’t win for sure. So that’s what I think we need to improve on for the next game to try and win there."
Arsenal will return to Premier League action this weekend with a visit to St. James' Park to take on Newcastle United. The Magpies notably crushed Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
