West Ham 0-6 Arsenal: Talking points as Gunners properly destroy Hammers at London Stadium

It’s been a while since the Premier League yielded such a one-sided contest as the one where West Ham suffered a horrific thrashing at the hands of Arsenal at the London Stadium on Sunday. It was, on the other hand, a glorious afternoon for the Gunners, with William Saliba (32′), Bukayo Saka (41′ penalty, 63′), Gabriel Magalhaes (44′), Leandro Trossard (45+2′), and Declan Rice (65′) all finding the back of Alphonse Areola’s net.

Not a contest

There’s really not a lot to say after a game like this. In short, Arsenal were excellent, West Ham woeful, and the shattering scoreline doesn’t exaggerate in describing the way the visitors dominated the contest, from start to finish. In fact, this match could hardly be called a contest at all.

Arsenal kept possession with ease, controlling everything with smart passing and movement, as well as high pressing and ability to win the ball very quickly. The fact that the ball was at their feet for 71% of the time speaks for itself, just like their total of 25 shots, 12 on target, not to mention the six goals. And it could’ve been more – apart from scoring twice, Saka wasted a couple of big chances too, as he admitted himself after the game.

As for West Ham, it was arguably one of the worst performances by any team in the Premier League this season. Their players seemed completely deprived of motivation and ideas, with no structure to their game whatsoever. As much as Arsenal were good, there is no excuse for the way the Hammers played this game, and manager David Moyes will surely want to revise the whole approach, both his in terms of tactics and strategy, and that of his players, who looked like anything but professional footballers on the day.

Mohamed Kudus, arguably one of the most talented youngsters in the league, epitomized the whole game for his team. He barely touched the ball. Arsenal played around him like he wasn’t there. He never sought to get involved, and the only moment he stood out was in the 76th minute, when he received a yellow card for mowing down Gabriel Martinelli from behind as a sign of total frustration.

The only man who seemed to be trying to do something for the home side was Jarrod Bowen, but he was completely alone in his efforts most of the time.

Most of the home supporters left the stadium before halftime.

Meanwhile, Arsenal painted a completely opposite picture. Their centre-backs were on top of everything that went on in their areas, and even got on the scoresheet each. Upon his return to the London Stadium, former West Ham hero Declan Rice won everything there was to win in the middle of the park, highlighting a great difference in quality between him and the man the Hammers signed as his replacement, Edson Alvarez. Martin Odegaard was particularly inspired, always on the ball, showing great trickery and keeping his opponents guessing (wrongly) all the time. The front three, which at first glance appeared like a make-shift solution with Trossard as the central attacker, was actually extremely fluid, with frequent changes of position and incredible dynamics.

All in all, Mikel Arteta will have been proud of what he saw, unlike the man he once played under at Everton, Moyes.

Where are West Ham going?

Speaking of Moyes, after a game like this, it seems likely that his fate at the end of the season will be a great indicator of West Ham’s ambitions for the near future. Once an important name in the Premier League, it seems the game has evolved beyond his reach, and he simply isn’t capable of setting his team up in a way that would give a high-quality opponent a proper game anymore.

Overall, the era under the former Everton and Manchester United boss hasn’t been bad for the Hammers, far from it. They’ve won a European trophy and rightly belong in the upper half of the table, while securing a place in the Europa League knockout stage. There’s no doubt about Moyes being the man responsible for their step upwards over the last couple of seasons, but the club have got to ask themselves where they want to go from here.

🚨⚒️ David Moyes after 0-6 defeat: “I take the responsibility, I pick the team but players have to take responsibility”.

“If you’re not tackling, turning you’re back, not winning headers… those things are part of your job”.

“I’ll take bit of time and see if I can fix it”. pic.twitter.com/NS8SY1kxW8

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 11, 2024

If they’re satisfied with their current position in English football, keeping Moyes in the dugout makes sense. He’s reached the place he can reach, and should be fully capable of staying there. But if they want to progress further, possibly start dreaming of competing for the top four in the next couple of  years, then it’s probably time for a new name, a coach with a more modern approach to the game, someone, for example, like Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi.

Arsenal’s title credentials

Mikel Arteta, of course, would have been a good shout too, if it were only possible for a club like West Ham to even dream about it at this point. The Spaniard has been doing a fantastic job at Arsenal, getting his team into the title race for the second time running, and their form at the moment fully reflects his tactical ideas, as well as his man-management skills.

Arsenal have won their opening four league games of a calendar year for the first time since 1935:

◉ 5-0 vs. Crystal Palace
◉ 1-2 vs. Nottingham Forest
◉ 3-1 vs. Liverpool
◉ 0-6 vs. West Ham

The winter break did them the world of good. 👀 pic.twitter.com/fIqR0ESVol

— Squawka (@Squawka) February 11, 2024

Beating Liverpool, of course, was surely the biggest statement of them all, a proper scalp for them to take and stake their claim to the Premier League title.

At the moment, Arsenal are third, sharing the tally of 52 points with second-place Manchester City who not only have a slightly better goal-difference, but also a game in hand. It’s still two points short of leaders Liverpool, who, despite their 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday, still don’t look very convincing on the pitch after getting thoroughly beaten at the Emirates the previous week.

Unlike for West Ham, the question of how high this Arsenal team, under the command of their current boss, could go remains fully open. Have they got what it takes to take the crown from Manchester City, Arteta’s former employers? Or will they crumble at the end like last season?

Let’s wait and see.