West Ham has never won at Arsenal’s “holy land” even though in the capital, Emirates Stadium is only not far from London Stadium headquarters.
Coach Mikel Arteta himself, from the time he was playing until he switched to coaching, had never failed at the hands of West Ham.
That is the reason why “Gunners” fans look forward to a resounding victory from the home team to rise to No. 1 on the rankings and win the first leg of the championship.
With great ambition and outstanding strength while the key players are in extremely good form, Arsenal quickly attacked right after the opening whistle and put tremendous pressure on West Ham’s goal.
They controlled the ball at times up to 91%, giving the opponent almost no chance to cross the midfield line.
Attacking fiercely but unable to score, the “Gunners” suddenly had to concede a goal in West Ham’s first attack.
In the 13th minute, Gabriel and Zinchenko fumbled on defense, creating an opportunity for Jarrod Bowen to cross the ball back from the sideline for Tomas Soucek to shoot from close range and into Arsenal’s net.
Neither VAR nor referee Michael Oliver could determine whether the ball had left the end line when Bowen made the decisive pass, but still recognized the goal for West Ham.
This awkward situation reminds people of the match between Arsenal and Newcastle in round 11, Anthony Gordon scored the only goal for “Magpies” when Joe Willock seemed to have “recovered” the ball from behind the end line.
The loss made Arsenal even hotter, but the home team’s attacks lacked a bit of luck to score a goal. West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola also saved many dangerous balls on an excellent day of play.
At the beginning of the second half, Arsenal’s net shook for the second time in the match when from a 55th minute corner kick taken by James Ward-Prowse, an “old friend” of Arsenal, Konstantinos Mavropanos, jumped high and headed dangerously, doubling the lead. especially for West Ham.
The match scenario that followed was identical to the first half when Arsenal frantically attacked but could not score an honorable goal. Even in stoppage time, Arsenal had to suffer a penalty after Declan Rice slipped and fouled Emerson in the penalty area.
Fortunately, goalkeeper David Raya leaned in the right direction and successfully blocked Benrahma’s shot from the 11m spot.
Losing the match 0-2 at home, Arsenal missed the opportunity to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League. Coach Mikel Arteta’s team still maintains 40 points and is 2 points behind the leading team, Liverpool.
Learning from the experience of being heavily fined in the match against Newcastle for criticizing the referee, coach Mikel Arteta only said briefly: “I don’t know what the situation is. It’s just that the technology must be good enough to identify situations.” Similar situation. Today, everything was not convincing with the technology we have. Arsenal deserved a point but West Ham took advantage of the opportunity and protected the goal very well. Congratulations West Ham.”