Arsenal took the London Stadium by storm last Sunday and put six goals past David Moyes’ side.
It was a humbling experience for the Hammers’ Scottish manager David Moyes and his team, whose last defeat of such a magnitude came in 1963 when Blackburn Rovers beat them 8 – 2.
Mikel Arteta put up an attacking masterclass to score six goals against the Hammers, with former West Ham United captain Declan Rice being the star of the show.
Rice assisted two goals and netted the six from a long way out while Alphonse Areola could do nothing. The Irons’ fans were forced to give their former captain an ovation after trying to keep him down with boos for most of the match.
The game angered pundit Roy Keane, who slammed Moyes’ team as disgraceful. Keane said at half time when Arsenal were already four goals up: “There are ways to lose a football match – West Ham have not turned up.
“They have not been physical, they are not tackling, no desire, no hunger, they look old and sluggish, they are not tracking back, no one has laid a glove on {statorium_player pid=4356 sid=252 text=”(Martin) Odegaard”}.
“Moyes must be fuming at half-time, but all credit to Arsenal, they look sharp and at it and have turned up.
“West Ham, though, a disgrace… shocking. I’m really frustrated with them. Arsenal are making the most of it. One or two touch, no one gets near them. Beautiful finish. Four nil.
“I can’t believe what I’m watching. The way they get beaten physically, set-pieces… West Ham the last 10 or 15 minutes have been an absolute disgrace.”
After the game, Moyes echoed Keane’s sentiments although with less venom being the coach of the team. The former Manchester United and Everton manager said: “It’s a day we don’t want to really remember. We’ve had plenty of days here we do want to remember but today is one we certainly don’t.
“I don’t know the reason why [the players weren’t at it today]. We’ve had a week’s preparation, and we’ve tried to try to do things the way we would do in a normal lead-up to a weekend game.
“We all know we had a great win here in the League Cup against them, and we won at the Emirates, so there was a level of confidence behind the scenes going into the game that we could get another result after those wins, but Arsenal were so good.
“From minute one, we could hardly lay a glove on them, we didn’t get close to them and we probably showed them a bit too much respect.
“Then we started to meet some really, really stupid decisions in our distribution and our passing and when we should pass or when we should play forward and just too many things were wrong today.”
He then apologised to the fans for the display and promised to do better when they face Nottingham Forest in their next match.
