Arsenal’s centre-halves were the unlikely goalscoring heroes as Arsenal took three points away at West Ham, running out 2-1 winners on the day.
Rob Holding put the Gunners ahead but an equaliser from Jarrod Bowen just before the break leveled the scores.
However, Gabriel’s second half close range header proved decisive on the day and in truth a tired looking home side barely threatened in the second period despite having plenty of possession.
Here’s how the players rated this afternoon.
Read the West Ham 1-2 Arsenal report and see the goals here
West Ham 1-2 Arsenal – Player Ratings
The ratings are hidden by default until you vote, but if you just want to view the ratings and the comments, flick the switch at the top above Aaron Ramsdale. Also, please give the ratings a few seconds to load.
nketiah, you might not stay here but sure as hell you are an epl player.
Loved the way all the Arsenal players piled in to support Nketiah in the handbags with Rice. It also helped break up the game.
There was a small moment when it was Eddie surrounded by 3 or 4 West Ham players and I was thinking where are our players to help him out? One second later in steamed Gabriel, Xhaka and co and all was forgiven!
I’ve seen some shocking left backs and rights backs in 50 years of watching the Arsenal but taveres is something else. He is a terrible football player.
Was i watching a different game? Yes Martinelli did indeed help him out but i thought Nuno did some very good stuff today
The first very good thing he did was in injury time.
You must been captain because he is awful and it’s only the 3 points that has distorted reality.
Some people just aren’t happy if they can’t complain about at least one player after the game. At the moment, it’s Nuno. Have been there with Holding, Xhaka, Gabriel, Elneny, Eddie and loads of others. All have been labelled not good enough at some point and got stick after every game, regardless how they played Now it’s the easiest thing to pick on a 22 year old kid in his first PL season.
Not true. People are criticising his performances which by any subjective criteria have been terrible. If he plays well, I will praise him.
Apologies, objective. Predictive bloody text.
Played absolutely fine today. Not worse than Cedric over the last weeks who received loads of praise during that time. And he’s around 30 in his 6th (?) PL season and won the Euros, while Nuno played a handful of professional games in the Portuguese league before.
Well, I don’t think so. I spent the whole of the first half screaming at him to at least TRY to stop Coufal’s crosses. The one their goal came from was about the 4th or 5th. WH just kept giving him the ball cos it was so easy for him. His passing was (again) terrible, the Ramsdale/Bowen situation came from one of them…in attack, his crossing was (again) terrible. He wasn’t as disastrous as he was v MU obviously but he was still all over the place Look, he’s young & maybe with a season on loan he might grow… Read more »
Honestly, you saying he has been no worse than Cedric the last few games absolutely blows my mind.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2022/may/01/arsenal-happy-to-win-ugly-but-they-must-stop-teams-targeting-tavares
Well i guess it’s not just Arsenal fans who like complaining who can see the problem apparently……
Really interesting points. They obviously have been watching the same games as me and you.
Good article – note to Mik: starting today’s training – get Nik Pep to run constantly at Nuno down the right – give him as much prep for Kulesevksi…
Well, you should be careful about trusting a columnist who is unaware that we play Leeds and that Spurs go to Anfield and instead thinks our next game is the North London Derby–that’s in the same story you linked to. He also apparently never noticed that Martinelli was tasked to cover for Tavares.
Similarly, you should be careful about criticising a journalist for something that he never said….such as that our next game is the NL derby.
Nah too harsh.
He is athletic enthusiastic and strong.
His biggest flaws are desicion making and defensive awareness. The later can be massively improved. The first one can be mitigated.
If he doesn’t work on the he will end up as Kolasinac.
Miles better than that clown Royal down the road.
I must agree with this.
Was he a terrible football player the other week when he tapping the ball in to the goal? Easy goal but in the right place and quick to react.
Yes he lacks defensive awareness but he put a shift in for his team.
that’s it in a nutshell, he’s an extremely offensive wing back who never did much defending and is still learning that part of the game. the way we normally play, with the more conservative Takehiro on the opposite side, it’ll do. let’s see how he develops, there’s potential in there, even if very raw at the moment.
I guess that might be a problem, a defender who lacks defensive awareness 😂😂
Nuno not perfect yet (!) but he’s better than sambi who is easily the worst player we bought last summer.
But he was still good enough defensively to help us won against the current 3rd, 6th & 7th placed team, 2 of them playing way…That alone proves he is not that bad….And strictly speaking about this game …I dont remember West Ham having that many clear chances….If anything,…..going forward was our issue today, but give some credit to West Ham too…They are not in the semis of Europa for nothing… And sure, we all GOT IT!!… THERE ARE SOME ISSUES in Tavares game ….but football is a collective/team sport and he deserves every bit of/a little bit of credit too… Read more »
placed team, 2 of them playing way… = playing away
Yeah – like that French ‘winger’ who lacked a striker’s instincts (according to all the pundits in Italy and France)… until Arsene proved them all wrong!
If you judge young players on half a season, with a handful of games, under a new manager and a developing tactical system, in a completely new league, country and culture… you’re bound to be disappointed. And you’ll miss some golden new talent.
To those downvoters, do a quick check on the dozen or so games that Thierry needed before he suddenly clicked… and never looked back!
he was better than recently, but still very bad. his passing’s awful, even when he doesn’t directly give it away, he keeps making passes that compromise other players, who often lose the ball right after receiving it. he’s also not very good at marking his man. he’s a young lad and will surely develop into a good player, but right now he’s messing up all the confidence our defense used to had and may end up costing us cl football
I wouldn’t be quite so harsh but he does seem to consistently prove that he’s not at the required level. that being said, he’s the best we’ve got for now. 7 is a bit generous for me today.
Don’t like him but he was much better today, I think having Tomi on the right allows him to stay higher.
Stop being negative and get behind Tavares, you ignorant fool. Tavares was up against Bowen and he kept Bowen relatively quiet.
He’s a very talented young player but the middle of what is probably the darkest point of his fledgling career. Needs encouragement to come out the other side of this stronger.
I got a ticket in the home fans section today, right next to the away fans section! The away fans were MASSIVE! Just so loud. God I wish I could sing along as well but I had to remain tight-lipped.
10/10 for the away fans!
I was in the same boat. Took all my might to stay quiet. The away fans were fucking excellent
I know how you felt pal😪.
I was at the Man Utd Vs AFC match when Ruud missed a penalty…
I jumped up to start cheering…
I just about let out a yelp before realising which fans I was sat with.
I quickly sat back down & made sure that my AFC top wasn’t visible under my jacket🤫😂
I was in the saints end for the game a couple of weeks ago. i didn’t have much to cheer.
Same for me today. Was half way into my jump up for Holding’s goal and had to sit my ass down! I really enjoyed the home fans going nuts with Mike Dean. Wonderful stuff!
One should never ‘assume’ anything in this crazy run in.
BUT – assuming our dear neighbours do not win at Anfield – even if they got a point – we will be over the line with three wins in the last four.
However – the last match is Everton at home and they will be desperate for points for other reasons. This is going down to the wire.
We could really do with Salah scoring a double hat trick against Spurs, to put their goal difference below ours. Because it might come to that.
Don’t forget – we have to play Newcastle away. That is going to be extremely difficult.
Watched them play Liverpool yesterday and almost vomited. Newcastle scares me. They are organized and play with lots of force.
We are not organized at all and this is our suprising quality that will scare them!
Theyve got St Maxim.
Weve got Taveres…& hes our..
“not organised”…secret weapon.😉😅
Newcastle only have Saint Maximin, Shelvey, Guimaraes, bags of endeavor and the most forgiving fans in the world. Hopefully by the time we meet them they’ll be on a Saudi beach. (the players that is….)
And Mr Murphy’s football gods will make it so that Joe comes on as a late sub and scores… aargh. We’ll need a 2 goal cushion going into the last 20 mins.
Considering our last 6 games, the most difficult one is probably Leeds 😬
Saw a bit of the Leeds v City match, and I must say that Leeds worked hard and pressed City almost to the breaking point in the 1st half, even if the quality of City saw them winning easy in the end. Do not look pass this one, please, Arsenal.
Relegation fight is going right down to the wire. So Everton on the last day could be tricky too. Actually all our remaining matches are potential banana skins!
If Liverpool do us the favour and we take full points from Leeds then we can complete the work by beating those folks over at thier new dump. Now that will be the stuff of dreams
Saint Totteringham’s Day at the toilet bowl in front of 60,000 crying spudders would be majestic.
Make it happen!!
The Scouse currently has all the motivation on earth to drill Spuds… keep the faith.
Bomb doors open over Armitage Shanks Stadium lads…
And there was I thinking it was Twyfords Tottenham?
Love these bunch of lads. Spurs fans are deluded in that they think our team is totally shit.
I don’t. I think our kids have an amazing future together.
Who cares what Spuds think?
Precisely!! Spuds only have a couple of good players lol we have 5+ excellent players!!
What a fantastic end to the weekend! Solid work from all the boys but special recognition for Tomi, who hit the ground running after the injury. Also thought Tavares had a generally composed game, dare I say? Wanted Eddie to come off cause he hardly pressed at all between 55-80 min, and should have put at least one in the net. But glad he stayed on. He was vital in the last 10-15 minutes.
It’s funny, I actually thought the opposite of Blogs and felt Tavares was a much more composed, steady presence in the first half, and Capt Chaos crept in a bit later. Was screaming at the TV when he drove straight through the middle of the pitch with the ball (fine with that), lost possession (still okay), then continued to press all the way to Fabianski as West Ham recycled the ball (get the fuck back!). Also said the same regarding Eddie’s pressing, but wondered aloud whether it was by instruction – we’re not privy to that. Thought he had a… Read more »
He was, in fairness, but I couldn’t help thinking what Nik Pep would’ve done with the breaks on goal… given his amazing feet in pressure situations and ability to curve it in from outside the far post!
For me MOTM should be either Holfing or Nketiah and the fact that both are considered backups is telling.
It is telling of the importance to have motivated people across the squad and I have doubted MA on that.
Also given that top 6 is secured he should also be renewed.
Arteta also got competent performances out of Cedric and Elneny. Even Tavares hasn’t let him down.
Again – little mention of EverReady Mo’Nenny locking down the centre of the pitch. Quiet, solid, unflashy, but shut down Rice and co, forcing them to repeatedly go wide.
I’d love to see a Gabriel/William Saliba CB pairing next season going forward, with Rob Holding and Ben White as substitutes.
What’s Ben white done to deserve to be dropped?!
Next year, I’d like to see White start at RB instead of Tomiyasu with Saliba at RCB, Gabriel at LCB and Tierney at LB. I feel White is a little small for CB and is quick on the outside which is more suitable at RB. I like tall CBs to make headers from crosses difficult for our opponents . I’d also like to see Mavropanos share with Gabriel at LCB. Saliba and Mavropanos are two giant physical specimens for CBs. Give us tremendous depth too. I’m really begining to like the look of Nketiah up front. He’s playing much more… Read more »
For what it’s worth (not much), Mavrapanos has played quite a bit as a fullback in Germany. The reason it’s not worth much is that he is not coming back. Stuttgart have an obligation to buy him unless they get relegated–and then they have an option to buy him.
I remember when relegated Fulham’s player of the year was Callum Chambers. Do you want him back? (Nope, me neither)
What I wouldn’t like to see, mate, is you in charge of matchday selections!
I’d love to have all 4 available and fighting for their places
If anything, Gabriel is still prone to the odd sluggish moment, mis-read or brainfart… I’d use Saliba with White preferably. But I have a gut-feel about Saliba playing Santi’s role, just in front of our current back 3/4… he has the feet, the speed, the vision – could be a very interesting experiment.
I remember clearly how so many howled with indignation when Arsene pushed Santi into that deep-lying mid position and we all though we’d lost his playmaking, that he was too small to anchor the rear midfield, that he’d get lost there….hmmmmm
OK… so that’s a NO then…
The longer Saliba goes without playing a single minute for the Arsenal 1st team the higher his cachet seems to rise amongst the fan-base. Absence makes the head grow fondant…He’s done fine while out on loan in France by all accounts but he’s playing in a much less competitive and intensive league and is untried at premier league level
So you don’t think Saliba coming back to arsenal would be the icing on the cake……
I see what you did there…:-)
Holding was my MOTM, massive at both ends of the pitch. Tomy showed why he has been missed. Hope his departure was tactical – I gather Cedric was already getting ready to sub. Sloppy game but a good result.
Similarities between N.Tavares and A.Santos??? Or I am confused !!!
Goodgay
Except Santos was considerably more mature, way more experienced and never improved despite a number of seasons in a PL that, at the time, was far slower in pace and counter-attacking.
Otherwise you’re spot on…
7 for Tavares 😀
KT has got 6s all season due to his being ‘not quite on form’ according to blogger & Tavares hasn’t got less than 6 in the last 3 games.
Football opinions are mad I tell you, mad.
👍😂
We’ve won the last 3 against ‘big teams’, give the lad a break, I’d rather see him there than Xhaka, who’s needed in the middle.
He’s raw, unready, but he doesn’t hide and he’s got something.
I don’t understand this ‘give the lad a break’ thing at all. …he’s young & can hopefully improve and when he plays for Arsenal he will always have my full support….but after games in which he has been truly terrible, I’m not going to say he has been good. I just don’t see the point of that.
There is a difference between saying he had a rough 1st half where his defensive reading/positioning was poor, improved in the 2nd half, and saying…. “I’ve seen some shocking left backs and rights backs in 50 years of watching the Arsenal but taveres is something else. He is a terrible football player.” You rail against those who say he has been good as you don’t see the point in it, yet you see the point when some fans have hyperbolic nonsense dripping out of their bottoms. ‘Give him a break’ is probably in reference to having fans have a meltdown… Read more »
The ‘give the lad a break’ was a direct response to my comment.
Supporting the player and being honest should go hand in hand. Against a faster team down the flank, Tavares is going to cost us massively.
He’s got bags of energy but so does a Duracell bunny.
Yes, they are mad. Embrace it. DRINK THE MADNESS.
Fair enough. From now on I’m going to be madder than Mad Jack McMad.
Wasn’t he the winner of last year’s Mr. Madman competition?
No, that was Mad Mick Madison.
He pipped Jack in the last event when he went completely bonkers and passed out.
Ah yes, that would be Mad Jack the mayor of Madville, a village on the outskirts of Madrid, in Madison County, Madagascar.
True. But higher standards maybe for a better and more experienced player
The bias is we compare them to their own highs. It was a good one for Tavares, compared to his previous games, and KT, is his 6-rated games, was not as good as he was before. Not saying this is correct, but the reson for biasness (not sure if there is such a word tbh).
Tavares get 6…One extra bonus point for relief it is over…Thats 7
Heaven must be missing an angle
A right angle?
I thought Nketiah was bloody brilliant. Offered so much goal threat and on another day his calibration is a few fractions better and he scores a Brace and everyone is talking about him
I don’t think Lacazette would have had any of the shot attempts that Eddie did. Eddie’s footspeed was the reason why he was able to get into position to get those shots off. He came really close on that shot that went just wide.
Great points. Several weeks ago, he was slated and the worst striker we ever had – why are we subbing him on!?! In 50 years of watching Arsenal!! Rant, rave!!
How many ‘world’s angriest man’ do we have here? I thought it was just me….I’m angry at the angry people!
Whoever made that statement clearly hasn’t been an Arsenal fan long. The likes of Chris Wreh, Sanogo and a fella called Jimmy couldn’t buy a goal in the prem era.
Wouldn’t a better attempt on goal have gone in?
He was a constant threat – but, in the upcoming games, those chances need to go in. I can’t help wonder what Pepe would have done given similar great through-balls to get him in on goal? He has the speed, the feet and, most certainly, the finishing.
Odergard is proving to be such a good captain. He’s always talking to players, he’s a true leader.
Holding, what a man! Barely played this season, came in, scored a goal and was solid through out!
The potential for this team is huge, so buzzed for next year already!
Winning when not playing well is always welcomed, wont be in many highlight reels but going through games like these will only help the young squad. Particularly liked the moment where the team came to eddie when he had a tussle late on. 3 more pts, 4 more games to go…we
canshould definitely do this. COYGI can only assume Blogs boshed a couple of snowballs before writing these ratings but a win is a win
Yeah, we won. I’m happy and perhaps a bit generous but, you know, fuck it. And they’re only made up nonsense anyway!
Nah, snowballs were wrong man. Doves or mitsubishis for sure.
haha
Overall we showed the mental strength…
Nicely done
Declan rice has an annoying face. Eddie can look a bit casual at times but I’m glad he’s playing well and he’ll do better with more aggression
Yes, he has an annoying face, but he is a hell of a player and has loads of character. I would love to see him at Arsenal.
I think he’s overrated but admittedly I haven’t seen him play much. I like his energy but is he a good passer? I think Kalvin Phillips is much better.
It won’t happen (the price tag, for one thing), but Rice would be the perfect partner/substitute and eventual replacement for Partey.
And his surname has form with us…
I’d take him in a heartbeat but the smart money says he’s going to Chelsea in the summer.
Expect a few more wrinkles in that shiny new Chav deal yet….
Eddie is Marlo Stanfield from The Wire.
I’ve always thought this. Strangely comforting to know I’m not alone
Yes, he has but annoying face or not Rice is probably the best midfielder in England. He makes Xhaka and Elneny look like a rest homes for pigeons.
Agree on the Nketiah comment, I made the same observation to my mates. He’s not as clinical/decisive as we’d like, but he’s getting chances that Lacazette would never get because he has that engine.
Tavares abiltity to be shocking and great almost simultaneously is something to behold. Eddie gest better and better. Still think we need better forward/s if we are to challenge for stuff but it shows what real game time can do. Don’t see why he got so much flack for wonting to leave to enhance his own career when opportunities here were so rare especially when guys younger than you are surpassing you in ability and playing time and the experienced guys just weren’t doing it. I imagine Niles must feel the same, I like that every game surprise players are… Read more »
I have to hold my hands up eddie has proved me wrong he is improving every game
Local commentator said that he loves how Rice is “getting respect” from Eddie in the stoppage time. I say 60 second wasted for West ham. Not complaining though.
Top drawer shithousery imho.
I thought we were very cautious in the first half. Lots of backward passing. I also though we came out second best in challenges where we outnumbered WH today. We’d briefly win the ball then lose it with two or more of our defenders now the wrong side of the ball. It drove me crazy. It felt like we were late to many second balls. The second half was better. Braver on the ball. Eddie (from an inch perfect out ball from Mo) and Sambi (on a beautiful layoff late from Eddie) should have scored late and put me out… Read more »
Eddie good again. I could see us signing Eddie again and give him a loan to a club where he is certain to play a lot and then have him coming back if he lives up to his potential. Many good plays from him today. Uses pace and strenght in a good way and doesn’t overwork situations.
Martinelli on the other hand was quite poor in my opinion. Didn’t make runs or didn’t make himself available to pass in some situations. Good assist though. I could see Smith Rowe starting next game
Martinelli was great in defence but wasn’t making enough clever runs in attack. He seems a bit half hearted sometimes.
I think him having to cover/help out Tavares may have affected his freedom going forward.
Eddie has been very good recently but he’s a championship striker at best
Good performance
Am I the only one who noticed Xhaka instructing Tavares quite a number of times where to position himself when WHU were attacking?
Yes, I also noticed at times Xhaka was playing as a left back and Tavares much more forward.
Noticed that too – don’t know if it affected Granit’s positioning yesterday but he seemed a little all over the place, with some disturbing remnants of his bad old days, losing possession and slack passes. Hope it’s a blip and the Chelsea/Manure Xhaka gets back soon!
A massive result, but it has to be noted how silly it was to concede a goal right before half-time. We gave the ball away at least 3 times (Nuno, Odegaard, Eddie) in the run up to that goal. Very poor game management as the half was winding down.
Not sure why you’re getting downvotes, mate? It was a very, very soft goal – we had control of the ball and should have cynically/smartly kept it and run the clock down. Both Nuno and Gabriel were then sluggish closing down that cross and subsequent shot. Unlucky deflection, certainly, but it should even had got to that.
‘not’
Only 7 for Eddie?!
Easily our best player, easily his best game for us.
Great movement, always available for the out ball, always trying to score, always ready to drop deep and defend, lots of shot, unlucky not to score.
If he was a better finisher he would have scored.
Both teams were a bit laxidazical today. Lots of loose passes. Great to aee us gwt a win like that though, teams gone by wouldnof drawn or lost today. Great team spirit
10/10 for Eddie doing the shithousing and killing the game at the end…
Which I could just keep clicking on your comment. Who knew Eddie could shit house? I’m surprised he didn’t break out laughing. Declan Rice lost the plot. He should have been moving the ball upfield instead of confronting Eddie. Smart by Eddie. Stupid by Declan. And since Declan kept coming back even after other WH players moved him away should he not have been carded for being an asshole?
If being an asshole was sufficient reason for being yellow carded, very few of our opponents would ever make it out the tunnel
Tavares is good player ,has energy but he doesn’t use his brain!!!
When his engine finally connects to the steering wheel, he’s going to be one for the future.
Add a GPS to that shopping list
I’d settle for drive-by-wire atm!
Not worth rating today TBH. Abject performance and but for Cbacks, we got away with one. Thought Xhaka was poor today full of mislaid passing. OTOH he did cover the backline when necessary Tavares is still a maasive question mark. If he doesn’t improve, we will need a solution (Maybe Kolasinac back in for a season and Tavares out on loan) Nketiah had some decent chances but no real conviction with his shots. Needs to do better Even Saka was lethargic today (if but for one good run down the line) We will need to be far sharper in coming… Read more »
I’m still glad I’m not your cat, Santa
Why so many comments CB on Tavares. Martinelli made more mistakes today. Often under hitting passes. Great pass for Gabi goal but outside that he had a poor day with the ball at his feet.
Eddie’s workrate today was excellent, and Holding was immense! Massive 3 points 🙂
Ramsdale could have been sent off b
Why all these post game comments about us winning ugly and not performing well? Our game management after the 2nd goal was excellent, and we could have scored a 3rd easily with Nketiah. Such talk is harsh, and a lot of comments about Nuno are harsh too (including from The Guardian). It was a very professional win.
Given what’s at stake and that we’re now level on points with ‘the reason urinal cakes are blue’ the manner of victory hardly seems to matter but this was a dreadful performance and no-one should pretend otherwise. A very low quality game between two very technically limited sides from a league that continually flatters to deceive. Good to see Tomiyasu back and playing well but concerning to see him depart injured (again) Flashes of class from Saku, Odegaard and Martinelli but too few and far between. Painful game to watch so delighted it’s over, thankful we ground out the win… Read more »
Fair enough, now tell us how you really feel?
I think Tommy deserved an 8. Nothing got past him.
Agreed. He is freaking amazing. Even when he loses a duel its not over until he says its over. He tackled someone on the sideline then lost it back to them. Uh oh, right? Nope, Tommy battled the tosser all the way to the end line where we took possession. He may lose the battle but I’ve not seen him lose a war.
I’d have to knock one point off Rammy for that insane run out to take out Bowen. If he had connected, that would’ve been a red. If that had been an opposition GK on one of ours, people would be losing their shit. Damn that was cray cray.
10/10 for Mike Dean for the most un-Dean moment of missing his chance to slap another red on us.
I doubt a single Gooner who saw that yellow coming out didn’t think it was for Rambo!
He may even have gone some way to redeeming his cuntiest cunt in Cuntville status.
Actually, no – he’s still an gargantuan cunt.
Ta for the red thumb, Mike.