West Ham v Arsenal player ratings: Benrahma 8, Rice 7; Saka 4, Jesus 7

Gunners squander two-goal lead as Arteta's team show signs of cracking under pressure of title race

WEST HAM RATINGS: Lukasz Fabianski - 6. Forced into a routine save by Martinelli just after the restart. Made a number of decent saves in the second half. AFP

Aaron Cresswell - 6. Was nowhere to be found as Odegaard found space on the right to score the Gunners’ second goal. Sent in a number of dangerous crosses in the second half. Reuters

Vladimir Coufal - 6. Switched off at the back post and allowed Jesus a simple tap-in for the Gunners’ opener. Limited the influence of Martinelli in the second half. Reuters

Kurt Zouma - 7. Did well to stop a Saka cross from finding Odegaard in the 29th minute. Crucial in the air for West Ham in the second half. AFP

Thilo Kehrer - 7. Failed to get close to White quickly enough to prevent him from finding Jesus in the build-up to Arsenal’s first goal. Played a delightful ball over the Gunners’ defence and into the path of Bowen for the Hammers’ second goal. PA

Declan Rice - 7. Began the move that led to the Hammers’ opener by pressing high and winning the ball from Partey. Crucial to everything positive the Hammers did in the second half. Getty

Lucas Paqueta - 7. Fouled by Gabriel to gift the Hammers a penalty in the 32nd minute. Almost gifted the visitors a goal in the 69th minute after his misplaced pass Saka to kickstarted a counterattack for the Gunners. Getty

Tomas Soucek - 6. Backed off from Martinelli and allowed him to play in the cross for Arsenal’s second goal. Stopped a Saka shot from troubling Fabianski just after the break. AP

Jarrod Bowen - 8. Brought the Hammers level with a left-footed finish to send the fans into delirium. Sent a teasing ball into the Gunners’ penalty area in the 57th minute but there was no West Ham shirt on hand to take advantage. Getty

Said Benrahma - 8. Expertly dispatched the penalty that brought the Hammers back into the game. Whipped in a decent cross that caused chaos in the Gunners’ penalty area midway into the second half. Getty

Michail Antonio - 7. Caused problems for Arsenal defenders early in the game with his directness. Breathed a huge sigh of relief when Saka hit his spot kick wide after he had handled Martinelli’s shot to concede the penalty. Hit the crossbar with a glancing header in the last ten minutes. Getty

SUBS: Maxwel Cornet (Antonio, 88) - N/A. Flynn Downes (Paqueta, 88) - N/A. Pablo Fornals (Benrahma, 90) - N/A. PA

ARSENAL RATINGS: Aaron Ramsdale - 6. Made a routine save to keep out Antonio’s header 38th minute. Could have done better for the Hammers‘ second goal. Reuters

Kieran Tierney - 7. Used in the Zinchenko role, Tierney added defensive solidity to the Gunners’ left flank. Played a dangerous cross across the face of goal in the 64th minute. Reuters

Ben White - 7. Credited with the assist for Arsenal’s opener with a nice cutback into the penalty area for Jesus. Failed to get the connection right with Saka in the second half. Getty

Rob Holding - 5. Had a nervy start to the game with a couple of physical battles with Antonio. Made the wrong decision of trying to outrun Benrahma and almost cost the Gunners a goal in the 81st minute. AFP

Gabriel Magalhaes - 6. Made an excellent last-man challenge to stop Antonio from running through on goal on the half hour mark. Responsible for conceding the penalty that helped the Hammers cut the deficit in the first half. AFP

Thomas Partey - 5. Lost possession which led to the Gunners conceding a penalty for the Hammers to pull one back. Never fully recovered from that error and got subbed off for Jorginho in the second half. PA

Granit Xhaka - 6. Had a quiet game in the middle of the pitch for the Gunners. Kept things simple. Reuters

Martin Odegaard - 7. Heavily involved in the build-up to the Gunners’ first goal and scored the second with a cushioned left-footed finish at the back post. Never stopped trying as the Gunners looked to regain the lead in second half. Getty

Bukayo Saka - 4. Stepped up but hit his spot kick wide when he had the chance to score the Gunners’ third in the 51st minute. Could only manage a tame effort when he had the chance to test Fabianski later on. AP

Gabriel Martinelli - 6. Assisted Odegaard’s goal with an inch-perfect cross to the back post. Antonio handled his shot into the penalty area to gift the Gunners a penalty in the second half. EPA

Gabriel Jesus - 7. Scored the Gunners opener with a simple tap-in at the back post into an empty net. Dropped very deep to help the Gunners facilitate play from the back. PA

SUBS: Leandro Trossard (Jesus, 66) - 6. Almost slipped Martinelli through with a deft pass in the 80th minute. Dropped back to help in the build-up as the Gunners chased a winner. Reuters

Jorginho (Partey, 66) - 6. Helped the Gunners regain control of proceedings in the second half but couldn’t provide the final pass to breach the Hammers’ backline. PA

Fabio Vieira (Tierney, 85) - N/A. Reiss Nelson (Martinelli, 85) - N/A. Eddie Nketiah (Odegaard, 90) - N/A. Reuters

Arsenal showed signs of cracking under pressure once again as they blew a two-goal lead for the second game in a row, resulting in a damaging 2-2 draw against West Ham on Sunday

Bukayo Saka's penalty miss proved crucial as Premier League leaders squandered another chance to consolidate their position, with challengers Manchester City in red-hot form.

Mikel Arteta's side struck twice in the first 10 minutes at the London Stadium with Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard getting on the scoresheet.

But just seven days after squandering a 2-0 advantage in their 2-2 draw at Liverpool, the Gunners again faltered.

A needless penalty converted by Said Benrahma and a superb volley by Jarrod Bowen cancelled out early strikes from Gunners. To make matters worse, Saka had sent a penalty well wide a couple of minutes before Bowen's equaliser.

Manager Arteta's face at the final whistle said it all with Arsenal seemingly losing control of the title race.

"When I see a team playing with that flow at 2-0 certainly it's not the pressure," Arteta told reporters. "It's that we misunderstood what the game needed in that moment.

"There is a moment where you could go 3-1 up after 50 minutes and probably the game is over. Two minutes after that you concede the equaliser. This is part of football.

"My worry is after 2-0 that we made that huge mistake and didn't understand what the game required."

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