- West Ham beat Arsenal 2-0 on Thursday night to climb into top six
- The last time Arsenal lost at home was in mid-May to Brighton, a defeat that played a big role in them losing the Premier League race to Manchester City
The Arsenal vs West Ham fixture played on Thursday night ended in a 2-0 victory for David Moyes’ side. It was a ruthless display by West Ham at Emirates Stadium as they handed Arsenal their first home loss since the start of the 2023-24 season.
The visitors opened the scoring in the first half through Tomas Soucek before former Arsenal player Konstantinos Mavropanos doubled the lead in the 55th minute. The result would have been even bigger for West Ham but Said Benrahma had a penalty saved by David Raya in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Arsenal vs West Ham. Photo/ Toronto Star.
Despite plenty of possession and pressure, the Gunners couldn’t just find a response in this match. Bukayo Saka hit the post for Arsenal but the hosts lacked their usual energy in attack. They had 30 shots on goal and 77 touches in West Ham’s box.
The last time Arsenal lost at home was in mid-May to Brighton, a defeat that played a big role in them losing the Premier League race to Manchester City. Whereas West Ham fans are happy with the result, Mikel Arteta and his team are disappointed for missing the opportunity to go top of the table again.
The Gunners are second on the standings, two points behind Liverpool, who beat Burnley 2-0 in another midweek fixture played on Wednesday. West Ham have moved to position six on the table and currently have 33 points, which is their highest total at the halfway stage in a Premier League campaign. However, they will be worried about Lucas Paqueta, who had to substituted in the first half because of injury.
Arsenal Vs West Ham
Arsenal knew they had to beat West Ham if they were to end the year on top of the table. Having home advantage, they started the game on a high note and completely dominated the opening exchanges, except when James Ward-Prowse had a shot in the opening minute.
Despite the Gunners showing confidence in the match, they found themselves trailing inside 13 minutes, with Tomas Soucek being the goalscorer. Soucek’s goal was reviewed by VAR for over three minutes before being allowed to stand because it was unclear as to whether the ball had gone out of play in the build-up or not.
Arsenal continued to control the game after conceding but West Ham stood firm. The hosts found themselves 2-0 down in the 55th minute when Konstantinos Mavropanos rose above Gabriel to score from a corner.
West Ham beat Arsenal 2-0. Photo/ Eurosport.
As the match wore on, their failure to capitalize led to frustrations and Declan Rice conceded a penalty in stoppage time. Benrahma failed to convert but that didn’t really matter since the damage had already been done. The Hammers ended 2023 with a resolute display.
Mikel Arteta Laments VAR Decision Once Again
The post-match talk surrounded the awarding of the first West Ham goal. This is the second time that Arsenal have found themselves conceding a controversial goal, with the last one during their match against Newcastle United also standing.
Speaking after the Arsenal vs West Ham game, Mikel Arteta said it was a shame that VAR couldn’t determine whether the ball was in or had already gone out.
“I haven’t seen it, the only thing they [the officials] said was the image was not conclusive. It’s just a shame that the technology that we have is not that clear that we can say it’s out of play. It’s done, it’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about it now. So what we have to do is without that, win the game, and with the situations we had today, we had more than enough.” Sky Sports quotes Mikel Arteta.
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