Arsenal beat West Ham on home soil as they climb up to fourth place on the Premier League table.
Arsenal defeated West Ham 2-0 in their Premier League game on Wednesday. The Gunners bagged the three points while displaying an impressive performance against the ten-man Hammers.
Arsenal have a new captain!
Alexander Lacazette was the Arsenal captain in the first game after the club stripped Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang of the armband.
Lacazette had worn the armband as the second captain during the Gunners 3-0 win over Southampton last week. Arteta explained his decision to choose Lacazette in an interview before the game.
You can read the full interview here.
No Auba, No Problem!
Arsenal did not give enough space to the visitors to pull off their attacking style. Instead, the Gunners gained possession and closed up the spaces from early on. They came close to scoring several times during the first half. However, they were not able to get the opener until three minutes into the second period.
Following Lacazette’s inch-perfect through ball, Gabriel Martinelli received the ball and smashed it into the bottom-right corner of the net. Arsenal kept on with their attacks and managed to get a penalty six minutes after the hour mark.
Vladimir Coufal received his second yellow card of the night after a sliding tackle on Lacazette inside the box. The Arsenal captain had the chance to complete his great performance with a goal, but he missed the spot-kick.
Coufal’s red card ruined West Ham’s comeback plans as their backline became too vulnerable against the in-form Arsenal attackers. Following a swift counter-attack, Bukayo Saka found Emile Smith-Row, who sealed the victory with a precise low shot.
Arsenal leapfrogged the Hammers with an impressive performance to reach the top four. Next up for the Gunners is a league game against Leeds United on Saturday.
On the other hand, West Ham continued their three-game winless run as they slipped to fifth place on the table. The Hammers will meet Norwich in their next game on Saturday.
Player Ratings
Arsenal: Ramsdale (7); Tomiyasu (8), White (7), Gabriel (7), Tierney (7); Partey (6), Xhaka (7); Martinelli (7), Odegaard (6), Saka (7); Lacazette (8).
Bench: Nketiah (6), Smith-Rowe (7), Tavares (6).
West Ham: Fabianski (7), Masuaku (7), Dawson (6), Diop (6), Coufal (4), Rice (6), Soucek (7), Bowen (6), Lanzini (6), Fornals (6), Antonio (5).
Bench: Ashby (6), Benrahma (5).
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