Phillips and other Moyes change make Worst XI with quartet annihilated by Arsenal

Poor David Moyes. The beleaguered West Ham boss made two changes in the hope of a reprieve and both make the Worst XI alongside a lucky Mason Holgate.

Here is the Worst XI from the Premier League weekend, according to WhoScored ratings…

GK: James Trafford – 4.79

The Burnley keeper conceded five to Arsenal from an xG of less than half of that number – 2.36. Trafford, though, wasn’t directly at fault for any of them, and you could argue that he might have done better only on the third, when Bukayo Saka smashed a shot into the roof of the Clarets’ net close to the keeper’s near post.

CB: Mason Holgate – 5.25

Perhaps behind only Kaoru Mitoma as the luckiest lad in the Premier League this weekend. Mitoma because he still has two functioning knees attached to his body; and Holgate for scoring five-plus from 13 minutes’ work which was abruptly ended – not abruptly enough – by a red card that made his manager madder than a man eating a sandwich in his presence.

CB: Nathan Collins – 5.32

Brentford’s defending across the board against Liverpool was hopeless. Who knew Ethan Pinnock was so important? Collins cops it for an error that led to a goal, though it’s hard to decipher which one. And he might feel aggrieved to be the only Bee to be pinned on that score.

CB: Amari’i Bell – 5.52

Bell’s error was rather easier to spot – Rasmus Hojlund saw it coming a mile off when the Luton defender sought to deal with Casemiro’s hoik forward. The hardest thing to fathom was Bell’s intention. What was he trying to do?

RWB: Lorenz Assignon – 5.17

The Burnley right-back’s biggest sin was wiping out Gabriel Martinelli to give Arsenal a penalty to double their early lead. Assignon was also hopelessly lost in the build-up to Arsenal’s fourth, by which time the game was long gone.

LWB: Hannes Delcroix – 5.89

Dara O’Shea looked like he was towing a trailer while chasing Kai Havertz before Arsenal’s fifth but it was Delcroix who was dissected with a nutmeg in the box before the German finished.

CM: Kalvin Phillips – 5.26

Oh, Kalvin. Four appearances for West Ham: error that led to a goal; 3-0 defeat; 6-0 defeat; red card, in that order. Even Mike Dean laid into the England midfielder, which feels beyond his Soccer Saturday remit but highlights the misery Phillips is currently enduring.

CM: Ben Osborn – 5.83

Feels a little harsh to single out Osborn here since he was hardly the only Blade to be given the runaround by Brighton after Holgate left them short. The midfielder thought he had given the hosts hope with a close-range finish before half-time only to be denied by a frustrating offside, and he did a job for Wilder on the left when Yasser Larouci was replaced.

AM: James McAtee – 5.95

You might say similar about McAtee, and we could have chucked in either of Burnley’s wingers here who both rated lower, but this XI was bad enough without players out of position. So McAtee is in following an early rethink of his priorities against Brighton. His passing was fine – 12 out of 13 completed – but he still lost possession 11 times from 30 touches. And he lost 11 of 13 duels.

CF: David Datro Fofana – 5.56

The Burnley striker was starved of service against Arsenal and what he got was little more than scraps. Still, losing 75 per cent – 12 of 16 – of his duels feels like a miserable return, as does seven passes in total – half the number of times he lost possession.

CF: Michail Antonio – 5.75

David Moyes made two changes to his West Ham side after the pummelling by Arsenal. Both of them make the worst XI, with Antonio joining Phillips after losing the ball with close to half his touches – 15 turnovers from 31 touches. The striker also lost two third of his duels – 10 out of 15 – which isn’t a good look on a striker chosen largely for a physical presence.