Mikel Arteta's Arsenal warning backfires as clear reason for Aaron Ramsdale decision emerges

Arsenal were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round after a 3-1 defeat to West Ham. A much changed Gunners side went a goal down in controversial circumstances as Aaron Ramsdale appeared to be fouled before Ben White headed a corner into his own net.

After that though, they never looked like making a comeback and goals from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen just after half time put the game beyond their reach. There was time for a late consolation from Martin Odegaard with virtually the last kick of the game, but it did little to put any gloss on a sorry evening for Arsenal. Here football.london takes a look back at the talking points from the match.

Ramsdale struggles

This was always going to be a big night for Aaron Ramsdale. His stock had only risen in his absence from the first team as David Raya failed to convince in the Premier League or Champions League. There's an argument that he wouldn't have been able to reclaim his number one spot regardless of how he played against West Ham, but another good Carabao Cup performance was all he could do to keep the pressure on. Sadly, this was lacking.

Arsenal's defeat at the London Stadium was probably an exhibit of just why it is that Mikel Arteta has opted to keep Raya in the side ahead of Ramsdale. From as early as the second minute the England stopper was booting long upfield and conceding possession rather than keeping the ball on the ground and sticking to his manager's tactics.

Arteta would probably have been able to make peace with the goals Ramsdale conceded. For the first one, he was fouled by Tomas Soucek and would have been saved by VAR, while there was little he could do for the second, and the third suffered an unfortunate deflection of Jakub Kiwior. But