December 16, (THEWILL) – With a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, Arsenal leapfrogged West Ham to move into the coveted top four.
Despite the controversy surrounding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s captaincy in the build-up to the match, Arsenal cruised past their Champions League-chasing opponents.
The hosts were on top in a well-fought but stop-start first half, pressing high and particularly hard immediately after losing possession. Arsenal’s better control began to blossom into chances after limiting West Ham to only three shots in the first 45 minutes, none of which were on target.
By contrast, David Moyes’ side sat deep in his 600th Premier League encounter as a manager, frustrating the Gunners as the visitors congested a penalty area where Bukayo Saka, in particular, always seemed determined to encroach at every opportunity.
Gabriel Martinelli cut through the right channel of West Ham’s backline three minutes after the break after being denied by increasingly last-ditch blocks in the first half. The Brazilian earned Arsenal the lead after darting onto Alexandre Lacazette’s superbly weighted ball.
The hosts more than deserved their advantage, but they were handed a controversial opportunity to double their lead jn the 67th minute. West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal slipped into a tackle with Lacazette, winning the ball but catching Arsenal’s stand-in captain on the follow-through. Referee flashed Coufal a second yellow card and awarded Arsenal a penalty.
Lacazette stepped forward, but Lukasz Fabianski denied his former employers with a full-stretch stop, deflating Arsenal’s rising momentum. West Ham creeped out of their shell in pursuit of the one goal that would level the scores and give them a boost to find a win.
However, as the game neared its conclusion, Saka took advantage of swaths of space left by West Ham’s dispersed and depleted ranks. Saka laid on to substitute Emile Smith Rowe, who drove the ball to the edge of the box, before hitting the game-winning second goal into the bottom corner.
The Hammers went home empty-handed having been undone by Arsenal’s youth. So far this season, 10 of Arsenal’s 23 Premier League goals have come from players under the age of 21 (six for Smith-Rowe, two each for Saka and Martinelli), the most by any team in the competition this season.
Moyes also failed to improve upon his record at the Emirates. In 18 efforts against Arsenal in the Premier League, the English manager has never won, drawing four and losing 14, which extends the record for the most times a manager has played away against a single club without ever winning in the league.
Arteta’s charges deserved to win this game, as they had 21 shots to West Ham’s seven. They kicked it up a notch in the second half. Their reward is fourth place in the Premier League table, one point ahead of fifth-placed West Ham.
The top three are impenetrable for the time being, but the race for fourth looks more and more interesting by the week.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
