"Should be shipped to somewhere in Saudi Arabia" "Hard to defend" - Arsenal fans unhappy with superstar's performance in loss to West Ham

Arsenal superstar Kai Havertz faced the wrath of the fans after a poor performance against West Ham in the Carabao Cup.

Kicking off with an electric start, Havertz displayed an appetite for heroics. He teased fans with a near-miss header, but what promised to be an impressive performance eventually turned into a flat note.

Arsenal's woes deepened as they bowed out of the Carabao Cup, crashing to a 3-1 defeat against the Hammers on Wednesday. Despite a 5-0 victory over Sheffield United over the weekend, Mikel Arteta's decision to introduce six new faces into the lineup did little to invigorate the squad.

Though the Gunners slightly edged the first half, they found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline at half-time, courtesy of an own goal from Ben White. The second half was one that they would like to forget. Strikes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen extinguished any glimmers of a comeback. Martin Odegaard's stoppage-time goal served as nothing more than a consolation.

It was Havertz, however, who bore the brunt of the fans' disapproval. Despite three shots at goal, with only one requiring the goalkeeper's intervention, and his feeble attempts at defending, Havertz's performance was ultimately nondescript. Arsenal fans took to social media, decrying his showing with tweets that rang with frustration and disappointment.

One angry fan stated:

"Should be shipped to somewhere in Saudi Arabia"

Another said it's hard to defend the versatile German's performance:

"Hard to defend"

Here is a selection of their tweets:

---

Declan Rice faced a harrowing homecoming in Arsenal's crushing defeat to West Ham

The spotlight mercilessly fell on Declan Rice, whose return to West Ham became one of the highlights of Arsenal's poor evening.

The starting line-up featured familiar faces for both squads, as Lukasz Fabianski and Konstantinos Mavropanos were former Gunners now suiting up for West Ham. However, it was Rice, sat on the Arsenal bench, who had all eyes on him following his £100 million move to the Emirates Stadium last summer.

Mikel Arteta gave Rice the green light to play against his former teammates. From the get-go, the fans in the West Ham stands serenaded him with less-than-affectionate chants.

When Rice stood up to warm up, there was a mixture of jeers and applause that flooded the stadium. Whenever he got on the ball, after coming on, there were noticeable boos.

By the time Rice entered the fray, the Gunners were already neck-deep in quicksand, trailing 2-0. Jarrod Bowen's subsequent goal provided West Ham fans with all they needed to keep taunts aimed at Rice as the match concluded.