A miserable night in East London for Arsenal, who lost 3-1 to London rivals West Ham at the London Stadium in the Carabao Cup fourth round. Having hit 5 past Sheffield United on Saturday, Arsenal were looking to make it three wins from three in all competitions, but an own goal from Ben White followed by goals from Kudus and Bowen secured the win for The Hammers, firing them through to the next round of the competition.
Mikel Arteta made six changes to his Arsenal line-up from Saturday’s victory, with Aaron Ramsdale coming into the squad and Declan Rice starting from the bench against his former club. Eddie Nketiah retained his place in the starting XI after his superb hat trick at the weekend while also being the joint top scorer in the competition since 2017.
West Ham started slowly, but in the sixteenth minute Bowen whipped a corner into the box and Ben White headed it into his net, making it 1-0. Rasmdale complained to the referee that he felt a pull on his shirt, and with VAR not being present until the semi-final, the goal stood. Most Arsenal fans would argue that had VAR been present, the goal would have been overturned.
Arsenal were all over West Ham in the first half but couldn’t find a clear-cut opportunity. Their best chance of the half came from a Ben White header which was easily tipped over the bar by Fabianski. Arsenal went into the break 1-0 down.
Five minutes into the second half West Ham made it 2-0. Kudus fantastically controlled a long pass from Aguerd, skipping past Zinchenko and finding the bottom left-hand corner of the goal. He made it look effortless. Ten minutes later, Bowen took a shot from outside of the box, with the ball slightly deflecting off Kiwior and wrong-footing Ramsdale, putting The Hammers 3-0 up with over thirty minutes still left to play.
The substitutions Mikel Arteta made did not have the impact he was hoping for. Arsenal continued to pass backward and sideways without finding a way to penetrate West Ham’s defence until they scored a consolation goal in the 96th minute when Martin Odegaard sweetly struck the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from a Fabio Vieira pass.
Arsenal crashed out of the Carabao Cup with a deflated performance. They need to shake themselves off before their trip to St James’ Park on Saturday evening, when they face a buoyant Newcastle side who have won five out of their last six home games in all competitions.