Arsenal continued their fine form with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United to put them just two points behind second placed Manchester City.
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This scoreline would do the Gunners a world of good when they visit the south of France to face Monaco on Wednesday night in the Champions League looking to overturn a 3-1 first leg deficit.
Here’s how we rated the Arsenal squad in their entertaining win:
GK: David Ospina – 6
Didn’t have much to do against the Hammers but was always alert when West Ham had the occasional shot. He produced a brilliant reaction save in the first half to keep out a Kevin Nolan volley.
RB: Calum Chambers – 7
Continued in the starting XI after his impressive cameo against Manchester United.
An exciting battle could be about to brew between Chambers on Bellering for the right-back spot.
CB: Per Mertesacker – 6
Made some vital interceptions and blocks and was typically astute at reading the play but could do better with his clearances which kept landing with West Ham players and putting the pressure right back on the defence.
CB: Laurent Koscielny – 8
An almost literal brick wall today, West Ham were going to get nothing past him – he quite simply dominated their attack
LB: Nacho Monreal – 7
Just as against United and Angel Di Maria, Monreal handled Matt Jarvis with quite relative ease alas he wasn’t able to crown this performance off with a goal.
CM: Francis Coquelin – 8
The Frenchman’s stock continues to rise as he put in another strong and commanding display in front of the Gunners backline.
CM: Aaron Ramsey – 7
Had a number of chances himself in the first half before setting up Giroud.
The Frenchman then returned the favour for his teammate with the two combining brilliantly in the box before the Welshman sealed the points for the Gunners.
Is he now back to his best after his injury troubles?
RW: Theo Walcott – 5
Walcott got his much coveted start of some suspicious absences in recent weeks when you consider his ongoing contract negotations.
Still not back to his best following his knee injury, wasted a flurry of chances in the first half before being taken off for Cazorla halfway through the second.
CAM: Mesut Ozil – 6
Was delightful at times showing the kind of skills we want to see regularly from the German but inexplicably chose to cross instead of shoot when given acres of space in the West Ham box in the second half.
LW: Alexis Sanchez – 5
Had some moments of his usual magic but couldn’t get among the goals or assists today. Was shown a yellow card in the first half for a strange, Diego Maradona-esque handball.
ST: Olivier Giroud – 8
The Frenchman certainly announced his return to the Arsenal XI after starting on the bench against Manchester United.
Gird opened the scoring when the Gunners looked like they might contrive to make it tough for the themselves before setting up both their second half goals with some lovely, intricate one-two play.