West Ham’s heavy defeat against Arsenal gives fans a reality check.

Many had believed that West Ham’s 2-0 win over Newcastle was a sign that things had finally clicked under Julen Lopetegui – this doesn’t seem to be the case.

An action packed first-half at home to Arsenal saw the visitors take the lead just 10 minutes into the match. The Gunners wonderfully worked corner meant Gabriel had little opposition, allowing him to find the back of the net with his head.

Seventeen minutes later, the Hammers’ defence fell into disarray as some beautiful passing left the back line with no choice but to watch Trossard tap the ball in.

33 minutes in, things went from bad to worse for the Irons, Paqueta committed a clumsy foul on Saka, which was converted by Odegaard, before Havertz scored a one-on-one to put Arsenal 4-0 up.

A glimmer of hope emerged via a beautiful pass from Soler just a couple of minutes later though, which Aaron Wan-Bissaka converted to get his second goal in two games. A life line was then given via a world-class Emerson free kick to make it 4-2.

However, before they could regroup at half-time, Arsenal were awarded another penalty as Fabianski came out to punch a ball but instead hit Gabriel in the head. Saka then killed the game off from the spot.

The match would not see any further goals, as Arsenal limited West Ham in the second-half. Any chance of a comeback ended with Arsenal’s fifth goal, as everything the Irons had begun to do right was not seen again after the break.

Unfortunately, bar the 5 minute spell in which they got their two goals, West Ham simply weren’t good enough. Yes Arsenal were unbelievable, but yet again the defence was in shambles. It was way too easy for the Gunners to get their goals and this has been something we’ve seen time after time under Lopetegui.

Although we won’t know for definite until the Leicester game, it seems like the win over Newcastle was a blip rather than the turn of a page. Newcastle’s draw to Crystal Palace this weekend clearly proves we played them while they’re going through a bad patch, and that perhaps made the performance look better than it was.

Nonetheless, this weekend’s game was always going to be a bit of a write off, and hopefully things can improve again against Leicester (a side who will be hoping to benefit from a new manager bounce). He bought himself some time with Monday’s win, but failing to beat the Foxes could put the Spaniard back in a perilous position.