Declan Rice endures rotten reunion as West Ham batter Arsenal - 5 talking points
Arsenal put in their worst performance of the season away at West Ham and were sent packing with a 3-1 defeat.
The Gunners came into the game with an impressive recent record against their hosts, having won six and drawn two of their last eight meetings with West Ham. That run has now ended, much like Arsenal's Carabao Cup hopes.
If there was any suggestion West Ham weren't taking the competition seriously, those were quashed with some pre-match pyrotechnics and the odd firework. For all of Arsenal's early possession, it was the Hammers who struck first. Technically, it was Gunners right-back Ben White, who headed into his own net from a Jarrod Bowen corner.
That blunder from White was just about the only major moment from the first-half, with Arsenal producing some half chances but neither Eddie Nketiah nor Kai Havertz were able to finish.
Arsenal were then dealt a Hammer blow when Mohammed Kudus channelled his inner-Riyad Mahrez to put West Ham 2-0 up. The Ghanaian brought down a 40-yard cross-field switch with ease and proceeded to fire through the legs of Gabriel into the bottom corner.
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The Gunners' Carabo Cup elimination was all but confirmed when Bowen netted a third from outside the box on the half-volley. The effort deflected off of Jakub Kiwior on the way through ever so slightly, but Ramsdale will be disappointed to have let that one past him.
Martin Odegaard pulled one back during the dying stages, but it was all too little too late as Arsenal were booted out of the League Cup by their London rivals.
Mirror Football has analysed five of the main talking points from an awful night for Arsenal as West Ham seal their place in the last eight.
White's horror moment
Ben White opened the scoring with an own goalHAVE YOUR SAY! How far can West Ham go in the Carabao Cup? Comment below
White has established himself as one of the first names on the Gunners team-sheet for good reason since his £50million move in 2021. Ever-reliable, rarely does the ex-Brighton ace put a foot wrong, but he had a moment to forget in the opening quarter of an hour.
The right-back seemed to get caught under Bowen's whipped corner, which looked like it was there for Aaron Ramsdale to punch. Instead, White got his bleach blonde locks on to the end of it and nodded past his goalkeeper and into the back of his own net.
Ramsdale pleaded with referee Simon Hooper in vain over some sort of infringement in the build-up, but with no VAR to spare White's blushes the goal stood and left Arsenal with exactly the kind of start Arteta would have been desperate to avoid.
Rice's reunion
Declan Rice endured a miserable first return to West Ham (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)Both sides had players familiar with the opposition, as ex-Gunners Lukasz Fabianski and Konstantinos Mavropanos in the starting line-up for West Ham. However, the only man anyone was talking about was the ex-Hammer sat on the Arsenal bench in Declan Rice.
It was the main talking point pre-match and Arteta stuck to his word, allowing Rice to feature against his former side. From the first whistle, a chorus of 'Declan Rice, he left cause you're s***' belted out passionately from the away end as Arsenal fans aimed to taunt the Hammers.
When Rice emerged from the bench to warm up, his presence was initially met with boos and jeers from some sections of the home crowd, before the majority of West Ham fans gave their former captain a standing ovation.
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By the time he actually came on, Arsenal were 2-0 down and it was three soon after when Bowen delivered the final, fatal blow. The game ended with a hearty rendition of 'Declan, what's the score?' from the West Ham fans.
Ramsdale's moment to forget
Aaron Ramsdale was back between the sticks for Arsenal against West HamFew Arsenal fans would have deemed the fact Aaron Ramsdale starts in goal a talking point two months ago, but controversially David Raya is now the main man between the sticks at the Emirates. As a result, the England international is left to pick up Carabao Cup scraps in terms of his minutes and be happy with it.
Keen to remind his manager he is just as qualified as Raya, Ramsdale started brightly with a perfectly weighted lofted pass into the path of Havertz. He could very little to prevent White's own goal and from there, had his every touch jeered by the home faithful for complaining to the referee.
He was hardly kept busy in terms of shot-stopping, with Ramsdale not being forced into a save for the entire first period. Yet within seconds of the restart the 25-year-old kept the Gunners in the tie with a smart stop from Bowen who was clean through.
It proved to be in vain, however, with Kudus adding the host's second just moments later. Ramsdale's lowest point of the clash came with West Ham's third, where he got a strong hand to Bowen's strike which was near enough right at him, but failed to keep it out.
Bowen's stellar start continues
Jarrod Bowen bagged West Ham's thirdBowen is very much West Ham's main man now that Rice is no longer donning claret and blue and the former Hull City star has stepped up to the plate and then some.
Coming into the game, the wide-forward had already netted six in the league and now has a Carabao Cup goal to his name as well. Bowen was a thorn in Arsenal's side all evening, it was his corner that led to the first goal.
His strike was fortunate to take a deflection off of Kiwior's thigh, but if you don't shoot you don't score and Bowen's effort was certainly on target anyway.
If anything summed up the 26-year-old, it was that just minutes after finding the net himself, he was back by his own corner flag defending an Arsenal attack despite the Hammers' three-goal cusion.
Arsenal's attacking woes
Eddie Nketiah failed to last the full 90 minutes after a poor performance leading the lineWithin the hours leading up to this clash, reported emerged suggesting Gabriel Jesus' hamstring injury is worse than first feared and the Brazilian could be out until November. The performance from some of his other attackers may give Arteta food for thought ahead of the January transfer window.
Havertz was involved enough, but the German lacks any sort of edge when inside the penalty area. His sole goal for the Gunners being a penalty is for good reason and even that came over than a month ago. Nketiah's stock is high after Saturday's hat-trick, but he too had a night to forget.
At no point during the evening did Arsenal really look like scoring. Some may put that down to a lack of creativity in midfield and while that played its part, Nketiah leading the line needed to do more to get himself involved.
It was Nketiah, not Havertz who was hooked 10 minutes before the end to cap off a dire display.
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