Luck Runs Out For Hammers Against Gunners

Arsenal clearly wanted to get revenge on West Ham United for their results in the last two seasons at The Emirates Stadium and they certainly did so by beating the Hammers 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Nuno Espírito Santo made one change to the side that took a point away from The Hill Dickinson Stadium five days earlier, as Aaron Wan-Bissaka was fit enough to be restored to the starting line up and took the place of Kyle Walker-Peters, who dropped to the bench.

Youngsters Luis Guilherme, Freddie Potts, Oliver Scarles and Callum Marshall were once again included in the matchday squad.

The Irons were looking to win three consecutive games here and gave Mikel Arteta’s side a slight scare in the opening stages. They earnt a corner and it was sent into the box, only for Niclas Füllkrug to waste the chance by heading over. However, the pressure had not yet subsided, as Lucas Paquetá made a hash of his effort after collecting a knockdown from captain Jarrod Bowen.

Arteta’s men were slow in finding their rhythm, which might have been due to the fact that they were involved in UEFA Champions League action against Greek outfit Olympiacos just three days earlier. Nevertheless, once they got going, there was no stopping them. In fact, it was only down to goalkeeper Alphonse Areola that they weren’t able to make an early breakthrough, as he denied both Jurrien Timber and Viktor Gyökeres.

After he had kept the Swede out, Eberechi Eze missed on the follow-up before Konstantinos Mavropanos finally cleared the ball off the line.

The Gunners had only lost once at home this season and were determined not to let West Ham leave North London with maximum points again. They thought they had gone in front when Bukayo Saka scored after the ball found its way to him off the head of El Hadji Malick Diouf, following great play from former West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. Thankfully for the travelling support, referee John Brooks ruled the effort out for offside.

The hosts piled on the pressure but the Hammers’ defence remained resilient, as Diouf and Wan-Bissaka blocked shots from both Riccardo Calafiori and Saka.

The hosts then lost captain Martin Ødegaard to injury, forcing Arteta into an early change. The Spaniard replaced him with Martin Zubimendi.

Then, on thirty eight minutes came the moment the away fans didn’t want to see happen. Not only did Arsenal score but, to add insult to injury, it was Rice who beat his former teammate, despite Areola initially saving from Eze. However, to be fair to their former captain, he didn’t celebrate.

The home side could have made matters worse for their opponents before the break but fortunately, the effort from Calafiori came back into play off the inside of the post.

The visitors were a goal down when Brooks blew the whistle, meaning they could still force the game back into their favour.

The second-half started and the home side continued from where they had left off. Espírito Santo left it until the hour mark to make a double change, as Potts replaced Soungoutou Magassa and Marshall entered the fray for Füllkrug.

Marshall was on the bench for a number of Graham Potter’s final games in charge of the club but the former Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest Head-Coach finally gave the Northern Irishman his Premier League debut.

Minutes later, the hosts had the chance to make the game safe when Brooks awarded them a penalty after Diouf had fouled Timber. Saka stepped up to the spot and made no mistake in sending Areola the wrong way.

On seventy nine minutes, the East Londoners made a third substitution, as Walker-Peters took the place of Wan-Bissaka.

The visitors tried to pull a goal back on two occasions. Firstly, Paquetá had a go but failed to halve the deficit, while Marshall went even closer, as he tried his luck with a header.

In truth though, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was given nothing to do as the travelling contingent experienced their team’s fifth defeat of the season.

West Ham are not back in action until 20 October, meaning Espírito Santo now has time to put his own coaching staff in place before he faces his first home game in charge of the club and it’s a crucial one too, as they face Brentford.