England cult hero Stuart Pearce thinks Ben White did an ‘exquisite’ thing against West Ham United but Gabriel Jesus let the Arsenal defender down in...
England cult hero Stuart Pearce thinks Ben White did an ‘exquisite’ thing against West Ham United but Gabriel Jesus let the Arsenal defender down in Thursday’s 2-0 defeat.
David Moyes took his first-ever win away to Arsenal thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek (13’) and Konstantinos Mavropanos (55’). The West Ham manager had not won a Premier League fixture away to Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool, too, with 51 defeats and 21 draws.
Soucek put the Irons ahead at Emirates Stadium in controversial circumstances as VAR could not find conclusive proof that Jarrod Bowen failed to keep the ball in play. Mavropanos then sealed the Hammers the points on his return to Arsenal, four years after his last appearance.
Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus wasted Ben White’s great chance to score vs West Ham United
Arsenal had plenty of chances to get themselves back into the match but failed to find a way through West Ham’s walls of defence. The Irons always had lots of players behind the ball as the Gunners broke, forcing Mikel Arteta’s side to move the ball around without much threat.
But White presented Jesus with a great chance to halve Arsenal’s deficit to West Ham in the 66th minute. The 26-year-old lifted an inviting ball into the back post for the 26-year-old to attack unchallenged. Yet Jesus did not direct a header on target with the goal at his mercy.
Mavropanos missing a chance to clear White’s cross should not have put Jesus off. The 64-cap Brazil striker still faced a clean line of sight to the ball. Jesus also had plenty of space to Vladimir Coufal to time his header and leave Alphonse Areola zero chance of making a save.
Ben White impressed Stuart Pearce with his ‘exquisite’ cross to find Gabriel Jesus
Yet Jesus directed his woeful header over the bar from six yards out to waste a great chance to put Arsenal in range of launching a comeback against West Ham. It would have also been only Jesus’ third goal that White had assisted since the Selecao star joined the club in 2022.
Former West Ham assistant coach Pearce also felt White created a ‘great chance’ for Jesus to hand Arsenal a lifeline. The right-back further impressed the England cult hero with how he found the forward. White dug out the cross from the byline and found Jesus unmarked.
“That was a great chance,” Pearce told talkSPORT. “White has dinked an exquisite ball to the far post and he couldn’t keep it down.”