Arsenal 3-1 West Ham United
It looked for a moment that Unai Emery’s poor start at Arsenal would extend further and slowly turn the fans against him. After all, three straight league defeats would have been nothing to scoff at.
Fans and pundits would have immediately started talking as to whether the former PSG boss is actually the man that the Gunners need in the club’s post-Wenger era if the Gunners were to actually drop more points against an equally desperate West Ham United team.
Thankfully, the Gunners finally got him his first Premier League win, and the Emirates breathed a huge sigh of relief as they outplayed the Hammers at home. The Hammers tried everything they could to overcome Arsenal’s advantage and run away with the victory. However, Arsenal had class and a bit of luck on their side as they ran away with the game after the half-time break.
While the result followed the Arsenal vs West Ham predictions set by one of our pundits, it is important to note that not everything went as planned for the Gunners. They did a bit of huffing and puffing before they finally got the result they badly needed.
Highlights of the game
Jack Wilshere’s return to the Emirates was met by applause from the Arsenal supporters. The former Gunner was a fixture for much of Wenger’s later stint in Arsenal, and his departure was somewhat of a disappointment. While the fans haven’t booed him as much as the club’s other prodigal sons, he was still of enough quality for his former club to wary of.
He was involved in the Hammers’ game plan as they played the first minutes of the game. Not much action happened in the first ten minutes of the game, but it didn’t take long for Arsenal to be lifted off their feet.
Aaron Ramsey managed to sneak a ball past Lukasz Fabianski to send the stands into a frenzy. However, the linesman had his flag raised and disallowed the goal. Marko Arnautovic, the only scoring Hammer in their disappointing loss to Bournemouth, answered back with a strong shot inside the box that eventually went wide.
The former Stoke ace will get another crack at goal in the 25th minute, and he will finish the job this time. He powered a ball expertly delivered by Felipe Anderson from right outside the box. The ball buzzed under Sokratis’ legs and caught Petr Cech off-guard. The Emirates were stunned and were silently preparing themselves for another long 90 minutes.
However, it didn’t take long for the Gunners to shoot back into West Ham’s goal and put the game back on level terms. Alex Iwobi whipped in a bullet cross from the right for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to finish inside the box, forcing Fabianski to make a save. However, the ball whizzed past him and into the feet of a free Nacho Monreal, who calmly slotted the ball to the net.
The remainder of the first half saw the two sides pull off convincing attacks. Arnautovic found the back of the net once again in the 37th minute, but the linesman denied him of the right to celebrate the win. Aubameyang replied with a quality strike in the 40th minute, but his effort went over the crossbar.
The second half saw the Gunners and the Hammers become more organised and mount one attack after another as the adjustments were made in the half. Both tried their opponents multiple times, but it wasn’t until the 70th minute that West Ham saw their chances go dim.
Alexandre Lacazette, subbed in at the start of the second frame, collected the ball inside West Ham’s own danger zone. He fired a frantic cross that hit Issa Diop’s stomach and unfortunately fly towards the net.
West Ham desperately tried to find the equaliser, but Hector Bellerin ended their suffering. Hector Bellerin made a quick pass to an open Danny Welbeck during the game’s final minutes. There was little for Welbeck to do but score in front of a very open goal.
Key Statistics
While this isn’t the most exciting out of the Premier League results we have seen in Game Week 3, it cannot be denied that the Gunners played very beautiful football. Arsenal won the second-most points at home last season, and this performance shows people why the Emirates is a fortress. They had the lion’s share of the possession and had more shots on target.
The Gunners were also on point defensively: the defence blocked five shots, made 16 tackes, and incurred only one yellow card. Petr Chech was quite busy with his four saves, but Fabianski could have definitely used some help from his team-mates.
It is also interesting to note that 19-year-old Matteo Guendouzi has the second-most minutes played amongst Gunners under 25 years of age. He has been a delightful surprise among the team and the fans, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect more out of the youngster in the future.
What’s next?
The Gunners will be playing Cardiff City in what is expected to be a rout. There should be no reason for Arsenal to lose this match after pulling off such a result against the Hammers.
Meanwhile, Manuel Pellegrini will be hard-pressed to find a win to turn the morale for the better. Their League Cup fixture against AFC Wimbledon presents the perfect opportunity for the club to notch a win in their season.
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