ARSENAL were almost brought back down to earth with a bang by a rampant West Ham.
The Gunners drew 3-3 with their London rivals, who raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Jesse Lingard, Jared Bowen and Tomas Soucek.
Own goals from Soucek and Craig Dawson gave the visitors hope of mounting a comeback, which they completed in the 82nd minute through Alexandre Lacazette.
The draw with the Hammers saw Arsenal fail to close the gap between themselves and their bitter rivals Tottenham, who are currently eighth in the Premier League table.
Here, SunSport’s Chisanga Malata rates how Arsenal’s stars got on in their clash meeting with David Moyes’ side.
Bernd Leno – 4/10
The German had very little to do early on and was absolutely powerless to stop Jesse Lingard from opening the scoring in the 15th minute.
But he made an absolute of hash of Bowen’s near-post effort a minute-and-a-half later that saw the home side double their lead.
Calum Chambers – 6
Found himself out of position for Lingard’s stunning opener and subsequently failed to close down the Manchester United loanee.
But he redeemed himself by bagging two assists for the north Londoners.
David Luiz – 5
Defended well for large portions of the game, although he was guilty of not closing down Michail Antonio in the build-up to West Ham’s first.
Was later outmuscled by Antonio for the Hammers’ third.
Pablo Mari – 5
Was too deep on multiple occasions but luckily got away with being out of sync with his fellow defenders.
Kieran Tierney – 4
Failed to provide his usual auxiliary threat down the left wing.
The former Celtic man carelessly turned his back on Lingard’s free-kick that teed Bowen up for West Ham’s second.
The normally steady Scot also gave away the ball in the build-up to West Ham’s third.
Thomas Partey – 5
The Ghanian was not his usual lively and combative self, much to the frustration of Gunners fans.
Granit Xhaka – 5
Not for the first time this season, the Switzerland international’s passing was far from exemplary.
He also allowed Lingard and Declan Rice too much time and space in the middle of the park.
Bukayo Saka – 5
Was lively on the right wing but struggled to get involved in the match.
Wasted a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears five minutes before the interval with a tame effort after being put through on Lukasz Fabianski’s goal.
Martin Odegaard – 7
The Real Madrid loanee struggled to get involved early doors but became a bright spark after West Ham’s third.
From then onwards, he was the at centre of everything good the Gunners did.
Showcased his wide array of passing and his impressive vision on multiple occasions in the second half.
Pierre-Emerick Aubmeyang – 4
Cut a frustrated figure for large portions of the match, although he did have to make do very with very little service.
He did, however, do very little to get himself involved in the match.
Alexandre Lacazette – 7
Like Aubameyang, the France international was anonymous for large portions of the match.
But he played a big role in the Gunners getting back into the game as his 38th-minute strike cannoned off Soucek into the back of the net.
He almost got his name on the scoresheet shortly after the restart but saw his dinked effort cleared off the line by Issa Diop.
Got his just rewards in the 82nd minute when he headed home from six yards out.
SUBS
Nicolas Pepe (for Bukayo Saka, 74) – 6
The Ivorian made the desired impact in the 81st minute when he teed up Lacazette for Arsenal’s equaliser.
Almost bagged the winner in the 85th minute but ended up firing a tame shot at Fabianski after being put through on goal by Odegaard.
Emile Smith Rowe (for Granit Xhaka, 74)
Was unable to get on the ball in the attacking third but put in a shift defensively.
Gabriel Martinelli (for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 81) – 5
The Brazilian failed to get on the ball during his cameo appearance but did take up some good positions.
