Arsenal’s 5/10 star who lost the ball 16x was as bad Zinchenko vs West Ham

Arsenal’s first home defeat of the season occurred on Thursday evening, as they were beaten 2-0 by a clinical and resilient West Ham United side. A win for the Gunners would have seen them return to the top of the Premier League, however, Mikel Arteta’s side stay in second, two points behind Liverpool.

The opener was scored by Tomas Soucek in the 13th minute after a mess-up between Gabriel and Oleksandr Zinchenko diverted the ball towards Jarrod Bowen, who put it on a plate for the Czech midfielder. The Ukrainian defender was hooked in the second half with the mistake and a lack of concentration earning him a 5/10 rating by football.london.

The second goal came ten minutes after the break, and it was unstoppable. James Ward-Prowse produced one of his trademark corners, which landed perfectly on the head of Konstantinos Mavropanos. The Greek defender unleashed a powerful header that flew in off the bar and the post.

From that point on, West Ham camped inside their own box until the final whistle. However, they could have extended their lead to three if it weren’t for David Raya saving a Said Benrahma penalty with seconds to go.

Arsenal’s stats vs West Ham

From the first whistle, Arsenal dominated the ball and most of the attacking proceedings, yet they failed to get going in an attacking sense until after the half-hour mark, with only three of the nine first-half shots occurring before that point.

Despite that, the Gunners still tallied up 1.11 xG, with Bukayo Saka at the forefront of each attack. Furthermore, other than the goal, which was completely avoidable, the defence easily suppressed the West Ham attack to only three attempts.

The second half couldn’t have started any worse for the hosts, as they went two behind, which allowed David Moyes’ side to drop into an unbreakable low block, which saw their entire team in their own box at times. The Arsenal attackers had no room to work with whatsoever, with most of the second half consisting of an attacker finding half a yard of space and unleashing an attempt at goal, which was either blocked, saved, or off target.

Arsenal tallied up 75% possession, 21 shots, six corners, and 1.57 xG in the second half, but they were unable to break down the stubborn defence, with either poor finishing or decision-making letting them down.

Leandro Trossard’s game by numbers

With Kai Havertz suspended, Leandro Trossard was handed an unfamiliar left-eight role, where he dropped a 5/10 performance, according to football.london. The Belgian winger/centre forward by trade failed to take his chance in the starting XI, with the Athletic’s Arsenal writer Art de Roche highlighting the fact that he was “struggling” in midfield.

Trossard’s main issue was how wasteful he was in the final third, often choosing the wrong pass or erratically shooting instead of finding a teammate in a much better position, as highlighted by the fact he lost the ball 16 times. He also squandered Arsenal’s biggest chance of the game, failing to react quickly enough to a Saka shot which rebounded off the post into his path. The stats below sum up his performance.

Overall, it was a night to forget for Arsenal, Arteta, and Trossard, who put on a “below standard” performance, as per Roche. However, playing against such a well-drilled, defensively solid, and physically imposing West Ham has made even the finest attackers in the Premier League crumble and underperform this season.