The victories of Liverpool and Manchester City forced Arsenal to respond with success this evening when they host West Ham this Thursday evening. A rather delicate mission for Mikel Arteta’s men because for the latter in 2023 at the Emirates Stadium, the London neighbor presented himself with confidence, with a convincing success against Manchester United last weekend. Moreover, David Moyes renewed his attacking trio Kudus-Bowen-Paqueta which had worked so well against the Red Devils. Arsenal responded with the same eleven as in the draw against the Reds. Only Trossard in the midfield replaced Havertz, who was suspended.
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The match started at a high pace, dominated by the locals between a succession of crosses, a shot from Martinelli blocked (6th) then another from Trossard off target (11th). As has often been the case since the start of the season, West Ham had the resources to hold back before swooping. The disagreement between Zinchenko and Gabriel on this cross from Emerson benefited Bowen, who straightened the leather on Soucek, scorer within six meters (0-1, 13th). The Englishman’s delivery is still subject to controversy because even the VAR does not allow us to say whether the ball has completely left the field or not. Arteta will probably talk about it again at a press conference…
Arsenal tried a lot
It wasn’t all good for the Hammers either. Paqueta had to give up his place, injured in the knee during the warm-up. In addition to this, the Gunners moved forward again but still lacked edge in the zone of truth, like this header from Saka slammed by Areola (30th) or this shot from Martinelli (37th). Success also came for the visitors as Saka curled his ball onto the post before the break (42nd). To regain the lead in the Premier League and already return to the score, it was necessary to raise the cursor only Mavropanos, crucified his former club with a magnificent header after returning from the locker room (0-2, 55th).
The success was maximum for West Ham with this second goal on this second attempt on target. A real blow from which the Gunners never recovered. Zinchenko missed his evening, Martinelli lacked too much impact, Trossard had his head upside down and Jesus missed his situations (58th, 64th). Areola ended up finishing off the hopes of his opponents by intervening perfectly on Trossard (74th), Saka (78th), Nketiah (88th) and Odegaard (90th). Despite shooting 30 to 6, Arsenal did not have the necessary ingredients against the Hammers, who were as consistent as they were realistic, who still missed a penalty in the final seconds, and had to lose, leaving Liverpool at the top of the championship with two points ahead.
