Arsenal Vs West Ham United: 3 positives despite poor performance

In Saturday’s 1-0 win over West Ham United, Arsenal produced one of their most lacklustre performances in the Mikel Arteta era. Despite that, here are three positives to take.

The Mikel Arteta era at Arsenal has been extremely positive thus far. While the results have not always followed the way of the performances, significant progress has been made in several areas of the team and there is a clear path for success in the future. But in Saturday’s 1-0 win over West Ham United, the Gunners produced one of their most lacklustre displays under the Spaniard’s tutelage. Nevertheless, despite the uninspiring display, there were some positives to take.

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With that in mind, here are three positive takeaways from Arsenal’s poor performance against West Ham.

3. Bukayo Saka finding consistency

This was not the vintage Bukayo Saka performance. He did not score, he did not provide an assist, he only created two chances, even if that was joint-lead for the team. And yet, oddly, there is perhaps greater encouragement to take from his more ordinary display against West Ham than the extraordinary showings he has produced prior.

One of the most critical shortcomings of young players is their inconsistency. They perform brilliantly one week and then awfully the next. They have not mastered the normal, more understated aspects of the game, so they are capable of the outrageous but also do not repeatedly execute the mundane but nonetheless impactful processes. On this occasion, Saka did the opposite.

He might not have scored or assisted or burned past a West Ham defender with a sublime shimmy and shake, but he kept possession ticking over nicely with a 90% pass completion rate, he completed two of his three dribble attempts, played seven crosses into the penalty area, almost all of which were dangerous, and did not have one loss of possession, either by turnover or being dispossessed. This was a neat and tidy performance from Saka. And at 18, that really is more remarkable than much of what he has done this season.