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The early kickoff of matchday 22 took place at the London stadium where West Ham United hosted Arsenal in a London Derby. The last time West Ham beat Arsenal at home was way back in 2006.
The match started off flat and stayed the same for the majority of the 90 minutes. Both sides lacked the awareness and creativity in the final third. However, a personal error made by Xhaka gifted the hosts the only goal of the game.
The result meant that the Hammers have moved up to the 9th position in the table, while Arsenal stay put on 5th, with Manchester United having the chance to come on equal terms with Unai Emery's team.
So without further ado, let's see how every Arsenal player performed against the Hammers.
Bernd Leno- 6/10
Another game without a clean sheet for Leno. But when you're playing behind a defence as vulnerable as Arsenal's, there's nothing much that you can do. Declan Rice struck at the 48th minute, but there's hardly anything that the German Shot stopper could have done about it. Apart from the goal, he wasn't tested much and his footwork looked convincing.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles - 5/10
Arsenal's academy prodigy was often being troubled by the Hammers as they overloaded him on the right flank. The young Englishman does deserve a bit of leniency considering he was playing as a makeshift defender in the absence of Bellerin. But what's inexcusable were his sloppy passes throughout the game.
Shkodran Mustafi- 6.5/10
With Maitland-Niles failing to deal with most of his defensive duties, it was the German defender who occasionally cleaned up for him. Not known for his consistency throughout the game, Mustafi actually put up a solid performance. He was later subbed off due to tactical reasons as Arsenal shape-shifted from a back three to a back four.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos- 6.5/10
Despite their poor track record at the back, the defence wasn't a problem in this one. One major reason for that was the performance put up by Sokratis who certainly overperformed in view of his recent past performances. He occasionally kept it tight at the back, rendering Arnautovic to be isolated from his teammates.
Laurent Koscielny- 7/10
His performance against West Ham hinted that the Frenchman might just be beginning to crawl back to his former best. He made key interceptions and was the source of some really good passes played from the back to the front.
Sead Kolašinac- 6.5/10
Looking in retrospect, the Bosnian's performance against the Hammers was substandard. He has been the initiator of most of the Gunners attack begetting from the left flank in the recent past. But West Ham did their homework on the wingback, effectively neutralising him throughout the game.
Mattéo Guendouzi- 6/10
The Frenchman won possessions in key areas only to lose it wastefully due to his poor decision making. He is still young and that's something which he'll learn from experience. But today, he was certainly the reason that Arsenal's midfield and attack looked galaxies apart.
Granit Xhaka- 5/10
One erroneous moment saw him feebly clearing the ball that led to the West Ham goal. Apart from being culpable for the only goal of the game he also failed to deliver on the creative front, as most of his long ball attempts were either intercepted or were too heavy for the attackers to retrieve.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- 4.5/10
He has been deployed up front and on the left but today he was assigned to the right flank. In an uncharted territory for the Gabon international, it was an abysmal performance by him. His lose touches meant he gave away the ball far too often. He missed a couple of half chances and barely contributed in the attack.
Alex Iwobi- 7/10
The Nigerian international was the liveliest of the front three. He was desperately trying to unlock the West Ham defence, languishing due to the lack of support provided by his comrades. If there's any positive that the Gunners can take away from the match, it was certainly the performance of their young winger. A huge prospect for the future.
Alexandre Lacazette- 6/10
The French striker started off strong, twisting and turning, creating havoc in the West Ham defence. You could have bet that if there's any goal coming from the Gunners, it was certainly coming from him. However, as the game progressed he was cut off from his teammates as Arsenal failed to link the midfield to attack.
Substitutes
Lucas Torreira- 6/10
He was introduced into the game in the 59th minute with many wondering why the Uruguayan international didn't start from the beginning.
Aaron Ramsey- 6.5/10
His introduction breathed life into an otherwise lifeless Arsenal attack. His departure from the club will be a great loss for the Gunners.
Hector Bellerin- 6/10
Back from an injury, he was eased into the game at the 69th minute. He did stretch the West Ham defence on the right flank but didn't produce anything significant.
