1. Century for Coufal
It was a defensive masterclass from Vladimír Coufal on his 100th appearance for West Ham United.
The Czech Republic full-back joined the Club from Slavia Prague in 2020 and has become a fan favourite in east London with his no-nonsense attitude and impressive work-rate over the past two-and-a-half years.
Up against one of the most in-form players in the Premier League in England's Gabriel Martinelli, Coufal capped the milestone by making the most tackles of any Hammer with four.
Aggressive at both ends of the field, Coufal also won three aerial duels, while his long throws from the right provided a constant source of threat to the Gunners.
2. Battling Bowen
While an emphatic equaliser from Jarrod Bowen will be seen as the highlight of his performance, it was the work off the ball that stood out.
Throughout Bowen was a nuisance, driving the Hammers forward with his mazy runs, while also showing his defensive qualities too, with four successful tackles and plenty of tracking back.
His attitude is one that saw the Claret and Blue Army off their feet repeatedly, although one moment stood out. With the match poised at 2-2, a deep cross from Bukayo Saka looked to find an Arsenal shirt, although Bowen recovered well to scoop the ball over his bar with Gabriel Martinelli lurking.
Moments earlier, Bowen showed his quality in the other box. He ran onto Thilo Kehrer’s through ball to find the net with a typically instinctive finish.
3. Thilo Kehrer
With Nayef Aguerd and Angelo Ogbonna ruled out of the fixture against Arsenal due to knocks, Thilo Kehrer returned to the action as a centre-back alongside Kurt Zouma.
It was the first time the pair had played as the two centre-backs in a back four since West Ham’s 2-0 win over AFC Bournemouth in October last year, and after a shaky first ten minutes, the duo were solid.
Kehrer recorded an 81 per cent passing completion rate, while he also made one dribble as he showed confidence to bring the ball out of the defence and progress the Hammers up the field.
Having battled in a variety of positions across the back four or back five, the versatile Kehrer was able to play his part in West Ham’s equaliser on Sunday, too.
The Germany international lofted the ball back into the area after Arsenal half-cleared a long throw from Vladimír Coufal. Jarrod Bowen timed his run perfectly and was on hand to beat Gunners’ goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with a well-taken volley and secure his team a point.
4. Benrahma’s perfect penalty record
When Saïd Benrahma stepped up from 12 yards, there was little doubt of the outcome.
After Declan Rice nicked the ball from Thomas Partey high up the field and found Paquetá, who was fouled in the area by Gabriel, Benrahma made no mistake. With apparent ease, he converted his fourth spot-kick out of four in Claret and Blue.
As he did at the Emirates Stadium in December, the Algeria winger beat Aaron Ramsdale with an accurate finish, sending the Arsenal stopper one way and striking the ball into the other corner.
His fourth Premier League penalty of the 2022/23 campaign takes Benrahma’s season output to 14 goal contributions. Clinical.
5. Claret and Blue Army play their part
There is no doubt the 60,000 Hammers in attendance pushed their side to take a huge point from Arsenal.
Tasked with retrieving a 2-0 deficit after an opening ten minutes that saw Gabriel Jesus and Martin Ødegaard find the net, the Claret and Blue Army more than played their part.
A huge roar saw the Hammers surge forward at the end of the second half. The east Londoners in attendance cheered their side into a press that brought the penalty from which Saïd Benrahma halved the deficit from.
And again, after seeing Bukayo Saka miss from the penalty spot, the energy inside the stadium helped Bowen secure a point with a well-struck finish.
Michail Antonio was quick to praise the home support too. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “I know the one thing these fans want to see us do is the hard work, to grind and to fight, and that’s what we did for them today. As soon as we started doing that, the atmosphere lifted and they were our twelfth man today. I have to applaud them because they were a massive part of us getting this point.”
