With a 6-0 defeat at home to Arsenal, West Ham not only recorded the biggest home defeat in the league in 61 years, but also gave Arsenal the biggest win margin away from home in the Premier League.
Admittedly, Arsenal once again played at a high level, since the last game won 3-1 at home to Liverpool, the team gained a lot of confidence, manager Arteta ran wild after the game, the ultimate catharsis, because Liverpool just won 4-1 against Chelsea, the momentum is like a rainbow, Arsenal is obviously not favored by the outside world before the game, but Arsenal did it, and thus nirvana rebirth.
Arsenal not only gained the joy and confidence of beating the top team, but also returned to the title contention, and against West Ham United, the Gunners launched the final sprint to the Premier League title with such a winning belief.
There is no doubt that Arsenal's high-pressure pressing and rib penetration strategy in the front court is very successful, and wave after wave of attacks have made West Ham United tired and extremely embarrassed.
The emergence of Trossard has made Arsenal forget about Gabriel Jesus' injury and Kai Havertz's weakness, and the last piece of the attacking puzzle has finally been found.
However, while praising Arsenal's bravery, I also have to say that this West Ham United, there is something wrong, the most obvious evidence is that if West Ham United's three central defenders are due to the gap in the joint is pierced by Arsenal, which is dominated by dexterous strikers, the team's first three goals conceded, two are headers from Arsenal, and the other is a penalty.
Although Arsenal is the best team in the Premier League to score from set-pieces, West Ham United can let Saka repeatedly grab the first landing point of the header, which is a bit unreasonable for West Ham United, which is known for its defensive ability, especially for its most outstanding air defense ability.
In fact, West Ham's awkward situation was not limited to this game, the last game was a 3-0 defeat away to Manchester United, and West Ham United also sent timely warmth to Manchester United, who were in desperate need of a convincing victory to boost their morale.
Since entering 2024, West Ham has been even worse in all competitions, with only 4 draws and 3 losses, and the Premier League is 3 draws and 2 losses, and has not tasted victory in 7 consecutive games, and in earlier games, West Ham United won 4 and lost 1 in all competitions, and only lost to Liverpool in the League Cup.
So why is West Ham experiencing a dip in results?
First of all, the injury problem must be an important factor, Antonio is injured, the team's forward single arrow can only be replaced by Bowen, so there is no sharp knife that can stir up in the enemy's hinterland, and there is no way to compress and limit the opponent's formation, so Arsenal dares to press unscrupulously.
Paqueta's absence has made West Ham United's already broken forward line even worse, and some people may say that West Ham United has a problem defendingly. What do you do with the offense? But in fact, offense and defense are one, and only if you can play a sharp counterattack and make the opponent fearful, all passive and desperate defense makes sense.
And, the most ridiculous thing is that West Ham United is obviously desperately short of people in the midfield, and the team also sent away Ben Lahma and Vernals in the winter window, which is really a strange thing.
In the entire winter transfer market, counting the loan, West Ham United has sent away as many as 9 players, and only Phillips has been loaned from Manchester City, what is happening behind the team, we have no way of knowing, we can only say that from 2024 onwards, West Ham United is full of weirdness.
Enjoy the New Year