Electric Jarrod Bowen guns down Arsenal title hopes – here’s our West Ham player ratings after the heroic draw against the league leaders.
West Ham found themselves 2-0 down within 10 minutes of their clash with Premier League leaders Arsenal but clawed their way back to secure a 2-2 draw.
The result feels like a win for West Ham in the battle to survive. For Arsenal it will feel like a defeat and is yet another blow to their title chances.
A penalty won by Lucas Paqueta was coolly converted by Said Benrahma before the break and the Hammers had other chances to get level by half-time.
That’s despite at one stage looking like lambs to the slaughter as the Gunners started like balls out of a cannon.
Electric Jarrod Bowen guns down Arsenal title hopes: West Ham player ratings after heroic draw against league leaders
Moments into the second half Arsenal were awarded a penalty which their Starboy Bukayo Saka put about 10 feet wide of the West Ham goal.
That lifted the world’s largest cantilevered roof off the London Stadium and West Ham took momentum before equalising in superb style through Jarrod Bowen on 54 minutes.
Electric Bowen gunned down Arsenal title hopes and here’s our West Ham player ratings after the heroic draw against the league leaders.
Lukasz Fabianski: 8 – Solid as a rock. Almost always does all the basics so, so well.
Vladimir Coufal: 9 – Had a really tough assignment and looked back to his best defensively, a real man out there. Close run thing between him and Bowen for man of the match.
Kurt Zouma: 8 – Very good overall and made some vital clearances but was caught napping like the rest of the West Ham defence in the opening stages.
Thilo Kehrer: 8 – Credit where it is due. When most West Ham fans – myself included – saw his name in the starting line-up due to the injuries to Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Aguerd they understandably feared the worst. Like Zouma he started in lackadaisical fashion. But he grew into the game and really rose to the challenge. One of his best games for West Ham.
Aaron Cresswell: 7 – He is too easily beaten in his advancing years and the opening goal was poor from him. But overall Cresswell showed real leadership and helped minimise Saka’s impact on the game.
Declan Rice: 7.5 – Not at his brilliant best but it would have been very tough against that Arsenal midfield. He stuck to his task and was rallying the team when they went 2-0 down. A captain’s display.
Lucas Paqueta: 7.5 – You have to take the rough with the smooth when it comes to Paqueta. He made some brilliant first time passes that nobody else in the West Ham squad would see. But he also gave the ball away a couple of times in dangerous positions. Worked hard for the team yet again and won the penalty to get us back in it.
Tomas Soucek: 7 – Rarely had the ball at his feet but did so much dogged, important work for the team and the shape off the ball that will have gone unnoticed. A real team player as always.
Said Benrahma: 7 – Scored the penalty and offered a real threat at times. Some of his end product was poor again but West Ham always look a better team going forward when he plays. Helped out a lot defensively as well.
Jarrod Bowen: 9.5 – Man of the match – Did not stop running, Bowen at his best, direct and determined. Took his goal so well and was a constant menace. Also did so much work helping Coufal defend. Brilliant again and has been West Ham’s best player since the turn of the year.
Michail Antonio: 8 – Vintage Antonio this was, using his pace and power to be a menace for the defence. The Arsenal backline know they have been in a game and he really looked much sharper than he has for much of the season.