Arsenal could have closed the gap on Liverpool, but the Gunners stumbled against a solid Hammers side. In the end, a moment of madness also made the difference.
Without the injured Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal’s center forward against West Ham was actually Merino – the midfielder had already scored a brace in striker-style against Leicester.
The Gunners’ plan to dominate the ball was therefore clear from the start: high passes to Merino, who is also good at laying the ball off. However, the same applied to their opponents’ plan: West Ham did not drop deep too much, initially standing firm, and were even prepared to dig in their heels if necessary, occasionally inflicting a pinprick. In Soucek (18′, 34′), the visitors also had a header specialist.
Calafiori in the spotlight front and back
Due to the solid defense of the city rivals, Arsenal hardly created any chances. There was a pressure phase lasting several minutes in the middle of the first half, but it subsided without any high-quality chances. Arsenal’s best chance was a blocked direct take from Calafiori (35th), who was in the spotlight again shortly before half-time.
After a loss of possession by the Gunners, the Hammers counterattacked, with Calafiori allowing Wan-Bissaka to cross too easily. No Arsenal player was in the middle to challenge Bowen, who headed easily from a few yards out (44′). A small shock to the interval tea.
Arsenal had to step up their offensive game, as Mikel Arteta’s side can’t afford to lose any points in the title race with Liverpool. But that was difficult for the favorites. West Ham defended with enormous discipline – and almost scored a second goal: Bowen narrowly missed the target in the box (56′).
Lewis-Skelly flies after a few minutes
Arteta made two substitutions before the hour mark, with Zinchenko and Lewis-Skelly coming on. With them, Arsenal became a little more determined and creative (Trossard, 63), while West Ham no longer found themselves in an offensive position. Then a key moment: Lewis-Skelly fouled Kudus on the halfway line, but Raya was well in front of his goal. The substitute prevented a clear scoring chance – and saw red after a VAR intervention (73′).
The sending off pulled the plug out of the Emirates, and Arteta’s team with it. Arsenal’s approach was no longer confident, creative or effective. By the way, center forward Merino completely disappeared.
Substitute Sterling made far too little out of a promising free-kick opportunity (85), returnee White had a great chance to at least equalize deep into stoppage time – but he missed by centimeters (90+6).
So Arsenal is again eight points behind Liverpool, which will play at Manchester City on Sunday evening, with the same number of games. The first league defeat since the beginning of November (0-1 at Newcastle) was a serious setback for the pursuer.
