A place in the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup was up for grabs as West Ham welcomed Arsenal to the London Stadium. Mikel Arteta’s side demolished Sheffield United in the Premier League on Saturday, while David Moyes was looking for an instant reaction to his team’s shock defeat to Everton the following day. Understandably, one of the main talking points pre-match was Declan Rice’s return to the London Stadium, with the England international switching East London for North London in the summer.
WHU: Fabianski; Coufal, Mavropanos, Aguerd, Emerson; Alvarez, Soucek; Kudus, Paqueta, Benrahma; Bowen
ARS: Ramsdale; White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Jorginho; Havertz, Vieira, Nelson, Trossard; Nketiah
A chilly night in East London saw a fairly even opening period, with both sides finding their feet in this contest. The Hammers, however, would have the first big chance of the game with just five minutes gone, as Lucas Paqueta got away from Oleksandr Zinchenko and tried to find Jarrod Bowen with a forward ball, but the Brazilian misjudged the run of the Englishman and the ball rolled out of play.
The next chance fell the way of the Gunners, with Kai Havertz flicking the ball towards goal after a free kick in from the left hand side, leaving former Arsenal stopper Lukasz Fabianski to tip the goal-bound header over the bar.
Mohammed Kudus then had the chance to put West Ham in front, but his header was cleared at the last minute by Gabriel. Just moments later, however, David Moyes’ side would go in front from the resulting corner. A delicious ball in from the right corner flag by Jarrod Bowen was steered into his own net by Ben White, who could only stand in disbelief as the London Stadium erupted. Regardless of how they went in front, West Ham will feel it was a deserved opener.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhite looked to make amends almost immediately, but Fabianski was alert at the last moment to divert the effort away from his near post. Eddie Nketiah then saw an acrobatic attempt flutter over the bar minutes later.
The second half almost started in the worst possible fashion for Arsenal, as Jorginho was dispossessed by Lucas Paqueta. The Brazilian got forward and laid the ball off to Bowen, but Aaron Ramsdale made an excellent last-ditch save to keep the scoreline at one.
The Hammers, however, would double their advantage five minutes into the second half, as a brilliant ball up the pitch by Nayef Aguerd was taken down wonderfully by Mohammed Kudus, who cut inside past Oleksandr Zinchenko and finished superbly past Ramsdale into the far corner.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt got even better for David Moyes’ men just before the hour mark as Vladimir Coufal’s ball in from the right hand side was deflected into the path of Jarrod Bowen. The England international then took a touch and with his second touch, smashed the ball home past Ramsdale to seal West Ham’s place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
A cameo from Martin Odegaard off the bench for Arsenal almost saw the midfielder rescue a bit of pride for the Gunners. However, the Norwegian’s fierce shot from the edge of the box was saved comfortably by Lukasz Fabianski. However, he did get a goal back for the Gunners right on the stroke of full-time, as he fired the ball past Fabianski, but it was in vain as Arsenal were sent packing from the Carabao Cup.
It’s back to Premier League action on Saturday for both sides, with West Ham making the short trip across London to take on Brentford at 3pm, while Arsenal travel to Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United for a 5:30pm kick-off.
