Despite needing to put in a convincing performance after the 1-1 draw on St. Mary’s, Arsenal were far from it against West Ham.

West Ham’s game plan to go ahead early against Arsenal, just as Southampton had, was made clear when they had a chance within five minutes but it was offside.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles did a good job of squashing the Hammers’ early attacks down his side and Arsenal managed to gain some footing in the game quickly.

Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud both had early chances, and Alex Iwobi got involved from the get-go.

However, despite Arsenal playing well during the opening exchanges, the second proper chance of the game fell to West Ham. Arnautović was left in acres of space in the box after the Hammers streamed forward. However, even though his header found the back of the net, he was offside.

Despite switching from three at the back to four, we looked just as clueless and were making the same basic mistakes.

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West Ham looked as if they knew they could get something from the tie and every time they picked up the ball near their goal, which they consistently did, they would break decisively. They weren’t the quickest but they were organised, which against Arsenal’s defence is all you really need these days.

In the 23rd minute, Jack Wilshere, who was generally looking sharp during his first Premier League start of the season, linked up with Giroud before gracefully caressing the ball towards Alexis, who went for a worldie. The ball sailed over the bar but the build-up play on the edge of the box had been delicious.

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Minutes later, Iwobi hit the bar.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles gave away a free-kick not far outside the West Ham area after going into a challenge twice. The 20-year-old had been decent so far, putting in some good crosses that Giroud hadn’t managed to get to and refusing to hide. However, the free-kick was an example of how he’s still developing and a tad naive. He hadn’t got punished for the first tackle so he just went in again. Still, he’ll only learn with time.

There was a controversial moment when Giroud went for an overhead kick and kicked the ball into Aaron Cresswell’s face. The West Ham man stayed down but that was potentially because the ball hit his hand as well and he was worried about conceding a penalty.

This happened seconds after Manuel Lanzini had tried to accuse Granit Xhaka of bringing him down in the box at the other end. The appeals were obviously waved away by the referee despite the crowd kicking up a fuss.

Despite having 11 shots during the first half, only one was on target and it was looking like it could be another frustrating evening to be an Arsenal fan.

While certain players, namely Jack, were looking sharp, there still seemed to be a disconnect between midfield and the forwards and despite our 67% possession, we’d actually done very little with the ball. As is the norm, it seems.

It was a lively start to the second half with chances at both ends, including a long-range shot from Xhaka, which was his third of the game so far. Wenger must have been thrilled.

Maitland-Niles’ crosses to Giroud were superb, with the Frenchman going close with a header minutes after Xhaka’s chance.

Ozil also poked a shot wide.

Arnautović continued to cause Arsenal problems after he almost scored 25 minutes before the end. Petr Cech decided to channel his inner-Manuel Almunia and come running out of goal only to miss the ball and fall over. A foul was given against either the keeper or Laurent Koscielny and the Gunners breathed a sigh of relief.

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At this stage, Danny Welbeck was subbed on for Iwobi, who had been good at first but got a little too tetchy towards the end, which could be why the boss took him off.

Sooner after, Jack picked up a free-kick deep into West Ham’s half but it was slightly too far out to really threaten the home side. Alexis took it but it was too high and Adrian saved it.

After 70 minutes, that familiar feeling Arsenal fans have grown used to this season began to set in. We’re bang-average and we’re not winning this game.

Finally, with eight minutes to go, our record signing, Alexandre Lacazette, was given a chance in place of Alexis.

Minutes before the final whistle, Javier Hernandez hit the underside of the crossbar. Arsenal were once again lucky.

Once again the Gunners had the lion’s share of possession but failed to look dangerous against a relegation-fighting side managed by David Moyes. It wasn’t good enough and it’s hard to understand why we’re still playing like this when it’s been proven time and time again to not work.

It was the same performance we’ve seen so many times this season. We’re seriously average and questions need to be asked.