Leadership
West Ham have been in the fortunate position for the past six years to have Mark Noble as club captain. Over the past season and a half Noble has played less of a role on pitch but his influence at the club continues and none more so than in his role as mentor to Declan Rice.
Noble is a hugely respected figure not just at West Ham but across the game and played a key role in the Premier League captain's meetings last season helping lead the player's response to Covid-19.
Often during this campaign Noble is sat with the coaches rather than the players on the substitutes' bench and is deep in talk with Kevin Nolan such is his opinion valued at West Ham.
Moyes has a special relationship with his captain and talks about a number of topics with his skipper, taking his views into account. Rice is just 22 but is learning from Noble every day and can have no better mentor in the game.
Moyes did not want to be drawn on Mikel Arteta's decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the Arsenal captaincy. However, the manager must be thankful that in Noble and Rice he is unlikely to have any similar kind of decision to make in the future with the two men superb leaders at the Hammers.
Faith in youth
Armstrong Okoflex was handed a spot on the bench, his first involvement in the senior West Ham matchday squad, and becomes the latest of the promising Under-23s side to figure in Moyes' thinking.
The former Arsenal youngster did not make it off the bench at the Emirates Stadium but his involvement in the squad is a testament to the progress he has made since arriving in the summer from Celtic.
One could look at his selection as a sign West Ham have a lack of depth in the forward department but on the flip side it can be seen as faith form the manager in the Under-23s who are currently top of Premier League 2.
Whilst there is clearly the need to add another striker to the squad, Moyes has time and again proved he is a fantastic operator in the transfer market and also a good judge of youth.
Harrison Ashby, Jamal Baptiste, Aji Alese, Manny Longelo and Sonny Perkins were the latest academy prospects to feature for the Hammers and it seems it is only a matter of time until Okoflex joins them.
Dawson display
The centre-back was done for pace for Arsenal's opening goal but was not helped out by Vladimir Coufal who let the attacker get inside him and run into space and finish with ease.
During the opening 45 minutes Dawson had almost single-handedly kept the Hammers in the game with a little help from a superb Lukasz Fabianski save. The centre-back won everything in the air and made numerous blocks from Arsenal shots, one in particular stood out when he denied Gabriel Martinelli.
With Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna out, Dawson's importance to the team cannot be underestimated. Moyes is relying on the 31-year-old and Issa Diop to get the Hammers through to the January transfer window when they will look to bring in reinforcements.
Dawson was not perfect and was on occasion caught out when trying to intercept balls on the halfway line, and got turned easily but he was the Hammers' standout performer on a difficult night for Moyes' team.
Hammers harshly treated again
For the second match running West Ham were on the end of a poor refereeing decision when it came to a penalty shout. This time the Hammers were penalised for a Coufal 'foul' on Alex Lacazette when the defender clearly won the ball; he did catch the man slightly on his follow through, but with nowhere near enough force to be penalised with a penalty and a second yellow card.
Justice of sorts was done when Lukasz Fabianski saved Lacazette's poor effort, but losing Coufal for the final 23 minutes made the Hammers' tough task of getting back into the game even harder.
As the sending off was a second yellow card and not a straight red, West Ham are unable to appeal the decision and will be without the Czech defender for the visit of Norwich on Saturday.
With Ben Johnson and Ryan Fredericks both out injured, Moyes will most likely look to youth in Scotland Under-21 international Harrison Ashby to fill the role, although there is always the option he chose for 15 minutes against Arsenal of using Michail Antonio in his former position. Despite Antonio's form in front of goal the striker is unlikely to be used in defence with the Hammers having so few options in attack to replace the misfiring forward.
Toothless in attack
West Ham had complaints surrounding some of the refereeing decisions, but in reality they could have few about the scoreline. Despite the often heroic efforts of Fabianski, Dawson and Diop, the better team won on the day.
Including the Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb that is now 270 minutes of football without a goal for the Hammers and in truth, they did not come close to scoring at the Emirates.
One deflected Jarrod Bowen aside there were no efforts of note from West Ham and Aaron Ramsdale had a very comfortable night in the Gunners' goal. Moyes has pointed towards the games against Liverpool and Chelsea where his side hit three on each occasion as proof they can score. However, going goalless against Burnley, Wolves, Dinamo Zagreb and now Arsenal since the November international break is sure to be a worry for the manager.
With little in the way of alternatives to Antonio upfront the manager is sure to give his striker another opportunity on Saturday against Norwich but the January transfer window and the chance to strengthen cannot come soon enough.
