Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Arsenal Vs West Ham United: 5 things we learned – Flatter to deceive

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25: Arsenal players celebrate their team's second goal, an own goal scored by Issa Diop of West Ham United (not pictured) during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on August 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25: Arsenal players celebrate their team's second goal, an own goal scored by Issa Diop of West Ham United (not pictured) during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on August 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Arsenal
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 25: Arsenal players celebrate their team’s second goal, an own goal scored by Issa Diop of West Ham United (not pictured) during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on August 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /

Arsenal hosted West Ham United on Saturday afternoon, looking for their first league win of the season. Here are five things we learned from the 3-1 victory.

This certainly wasn’t the performance that Arsenal fans had been hoping for. West Ham United arrived in terrible form themselves, failing to earn a point in either of their opening matches, and looking largely disjointed and unprepared after throwing together a new manager with a plethora of new players. This should have been a comfortable win. It wasn’t. The 3-1 scoreline flattered the Gunners greatly, especially considering Danny Welbeck only scored with moments remaining. But secure the win they did for Unai Emery’s first points as head coach.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

Here are five things we learned from the open, entertaining but concerning 3-1 victory.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 25: Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal and Carlos Sanchez of West Ham battle for the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on August 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 25: Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal and Carlos Sanchez of West Ham battle for the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and West Ham United at Emirates Stadium on August 25, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /

5. How many of these players are overrated?

This is something that Henry Payne had via the Pain in the Arsenal Twitter account. He simply asked who else is coming to the realisation that many of these players are substantially overrated. And as I thought about it, I acknowledged that my general perspective of the players in the squad is far too optimistic.

Aaron Ramsey is a good midfielder, but is he world-class? Are either Sokratis or Shkodran Mustafi good Premier League defenders? Are Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin anything more liabilities? These are all questions that I asked myself throughout this match. Most of the time, I came down thinking worse of the player than I initially had.

Even some of the better players in the squad like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nacho Monreal could all be mentioned in the same vein as players who are overrated. It is something that I will keep a keen eye on as the season progresses. It may time for Arsenal to be a little more ruthless in their self-evaluation.