Arteta accepts he's to blame for Arsenal's League Cup exit at West Ham

11/02/2023 Soccer

Mikel Arteta accepts he is to blame for Arsenal’s painful Carabao Cup exit at West Ham as strikes from Kudus and Bowen – plus Ben White’s own goal – send the Gunners crashing out

  • Arsenal are out of the Carabao Cup after being beaten 3-1 by West Ham
  • Mikel Arteta insists it is his fault for the Gunners’ exit from the competition
  • Follow Mail Sport’s new Arsenal WhatsApp channel for all the breaking news

Mikel Arteta took the blame for Arsenal’s painful 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at West Ham.

Arteta made six changes to his line-up for the fourth-round clash, starting with Declan Rice on the bench on his Hammers homecoming.

Rice, who lifted the Europa Conference League trophy as West Ham captain last season, was back at his old club for the first time since his £105million switch to the Gunners.

But he will not be getting his hands on the Carabao Cup this season after strikes from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen, following an early own goal by Ben White, sent the north Londoners crashing out.

‘I’m very disappointed,’ said Gunners boss Arteta. ‘I’m responsible for that, we’re out of the cup, we wanted to play a very different game and compete.

Mikel Arteta took the blame for Arsenal ‘s painful 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat at West Ham


The Hammers ruined what was Declan Rice’s (right) return to the London Stadium

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‘The game took a direction because of the first goal but we have to see much more from the team and earn the right to win.

‘I’m disappointed with myself. We wanted to play in a different way and we weren’t able to do that. Every time we lose the pain is there.

‘We have to use this pain and this defeat to prepare the best way for Newcastle on Saturday.’

West Ham took the lead after 15 minutes when Bowen’s corner was inadvertently headed past Aaron Ramsdale by White at the near post.

Ben White opened the scoring for the Hammers with a header into his own net after 16 minutes

Mohammed Kudus doubled West Ham’s lead with a superb striker into the bottom corner 

Bowen sealed the win for David Moyes’s side with a deflected strike on the hour mark 

The second goal arrived in the 50th minute when Ghana winger Kudus collected a long ball into the box from Nayef Aguerd, skipped past Oleksandr Zinchenko and rifled a low shot through the legs of Gabriel and into the net.

Rice was the only goalscorer the last time West Ham beat Arsenal, in the Premier League in 2019.

‘You should have signed for a big club’ was the mischievous chant aimed at the 24-year-old when he came out to warm up.

Much of the build-up to the match centred around the reception the England midfielder would receive and when he was sent on in the 56th minute the boos were quickly drowned out by a standing ovation from most of the home fans.

But, before Rice had a chance to get into the game, West Ham had a third after Bowen collected White’s headed clearance and lashed it past Ramsdale via a deflection off Jakub Kiwior.

A disappointed Arteta applauds the away supporters at the London Stadium on Wednesday

Martin Odegaard scored a consolation goal with the last kick but it was West Ham’s night as they marched into the quarter-finals.

‘It was a really good solid team performance. The forward players did a really good job and for long periods we were good defensively. For most of it we coped well,’ said boss David Moyes.

‘Maybe we are becoming quite a good cup team. I want to be a really good league team if I can be but if I can’t quite do that then we have to do well in the cups if we can.

‘We have only won against Arsenal, we don’t get trophies for that.’

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