[Player ratings] Arsenal 3-0 West Ham: Olivier Giroud spearheads fantastic forward line

Arsenal vs West Ham
Premier League
Emirates
Kick off: Saturday March 14, 2015 – 3.00 PM BST

West Ham have looked superb at times this season, and despite their poor form of late we couldn’t afford to take them lightly.

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Our French contingent made sure that didn’t happen, with Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny shining as we hammered the Hammers 3-0.

Here are the player ratings for our 3-0 win over West Ham:

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GK) David Ospina – 6.5

A couple of decent saves, but nothing spectacular.

His distribution left something to be desired.

Took a knock to the head in the second half, but was able to continue.

RB) Calum Chambers – 6.5

Fantastic going forward, and his crossing was a constant threat. He should have got at least one assist, but his balls weren’t converted.

His defending was shocking at times however, and he was regularly caught out of position. Matt Jarvis caused him some real problems.

CB) Laurent Koscielny – 8.0

The Frenchman seemed to be everywhere, and put in a fantastic shift against the Hammers.

He was constantly covering for the pace (or lack thereof) of Per Mertesacker, and made a huge number of vital interceptions and clearances.

CB) Per Mertesacker – 7.0

His pace got him in trouble a few times, and he couldn’t deal with Diafra Sakho.

He was decent in the air, but relied on Koscielny to bail him out too many times.

LB) Nacho Monreal – 7.5

Another really solid performance from the Spaniard, and he is definitely deserving of his spot ahead of Keiran Gibbs.

Stewart Downing looked like he was going to cause a few problems early on, but Monreal soon popped him firmly into his back pocket.

DM) Francis Coquelin – 7.5

The 23-year-old is continually growing more important to the side, and his destructive role in midfield was performed perfectly yet again today.

CM) Aaron Ramsey – 8.0

He still isn’t looking like the player he was last season, but he was heavily involved in our win today.

Provided the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener, and netted our second after some superb link up play.

CAM) Mesut Özil – 6.5

Decent in the first half, and showed definite moments of quality. His decision making and final balls were uncharacteristically poor however, and he spurned a couple of fantastic chances to put the game to bed.

RAM) Theo Walcott – 6.0

A mixed game from the pacey forward, who was getting into fantastic positions and making superb runs, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

He was unlucky not to get a penalty in the opening minutes, but should have scored on more than one occasion.

LAM) Alexis Sanchez – 6.5

Not his best game, and if anything he slowed our game down and interrupted the fluency.

When at his best the Chilean is practically unplayable, but at the moment he is far from his best.

ST) Olivier Giroud – 8.5 (MotM)

The Frenchman is in fantastic form at the moment, and was involved in everything today.

He opened the scoring with a venomous strike after some excellent link up play with Aaron Ramsey. The roles were reversed in the second half, with the HFB setting up Ramsey for our second.

His link up play was superb throughout, and he was vital to our game today.

Substitutes:

Danny Welbeck – 6.5

A real threat after coming on, but like Özil his decision making and final balls were poor.

Santi Cazorla – 7.5

The Spaniard made an instant impact, and played a part in both our second and third goals – supplying the assist for Mathieu Flamini’s strike.

Mathieu Flamini – 7.0

Brought on to sure things up and shut up shop, but instead got among the goals and put the game to bed.