Arsenal crashed out of the 2023 Carabao Cup in a disappointing manner following their 3-1 defeat to West Ham on Wednesday at the London Stadium.
This fixture was dominated by the return of Declan Rice to the team he captained to a Europa Conference League triumph in June. Rice joined Arsenal from West Ham in a £105m move in the summer, but it was his former club that hit the ground running earlier on.
Having not conceded in the opening 15 minutes this season, West Ham took the lead in the 16th minute. From a Jarrod Bowen right hand corner, Ben White, uninterrupted by any West Ham player headed the ball inside his own net.
Arsenal displayed a positive reaction! Kai Havertz and Eddie Nketiah both got chances for an equalizer, but the first half ended with the Gunners trailing 1-0.
West Ham began the second with a bang! At the very start of this half, Bowen forced a save from Aaron Ramsdale, however, had White not made a timely clearance, that save would’ve counted for nothing as the ball kept rolling towards the net.
But Mikel Arteta’s boys were not to survive for so long as Muhammed Kudus made it two in the 50th minute.
It is at this time that Arteta made the decision to introduce the Hammers’ former captain, Rice, however, things went from bad to worse for Arsenal.
Bowen who had been brilliant the entire game tripled the lead with a screamer four minutes after his former teammates’ introduction.
Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka for Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson respectively joined the party, but the game was beyond being salvaged as the Gunners- who exited this competition in the third round last season- went down 3-0.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard who came as an 80th minute substitute scored the consolation in added time.
This was Arsenal’s second defeat this term having lost 2-1 to French side Lens in the Champions League at the start of October.
