Soccer

Arsenal sparkle to see off West Ham and move into fourth

Gabriel Martinelli and Smith Rowe on target for Mikel Arteta’s side in home win

Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli scores his side’s opening goal during the Premier League win against West Ham at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Nick Ames at the Emirates Stadium
Wed Dec 15 2021 - 22:19

Arsenal 2 West Ham United 0

No Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, no problem. The ousting of Arsenal’s captain had dominated the buildup to this match but its aftermath lingered on Gabriel Martinelli, who scored a goal three minutes into the second half that was straight from of his more senior teammate’s playbook.

Together with a late solo strike from Emile Smith Rowe it ensured an Arsenal performance that, for prolonged spells, rivalled their best under Mikel Arteta was rewarded despite Alexandre Lacazette’s penalty miss. They enter the top four, leapfrogging an outplayed West Ham who gave David Moyes little to enjoy in his 600th Premier League game. Vladimir Coufal’s red card means an already stretched Hammers defence will be further weakened when they host Norwich on Saturday.

Given this fixture directly preceded the 2020 shutdown it was hard, considering the spread of the Omicron variant and ensuing spate of postponements, not to feel foreboding at the parallels. Gaps dotted around the upper tier suggested some supporters had opted not to attend the first match here under “plan B” measures; for now, at least, the show will go on and fortunately both sides arrived in good health.

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Lacazette retained the armband Aubameyang has relinquished, a measure that is unlikely to hold for the long term but worked well enough in the comfortable win over Southampton. Moyes could expect his players to offer sterner resistance than the Saints but, with Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma both sidelined for the long term and Aaron Cresswell still nursing a back injury, approached a pivotal fixture without three quarters of his preferred defence.

One of the centre-backs upon whom West Ham’s hopes are pinned for now, Craig Dawson, miscued comically wide in the eighth minute when found in a decent amount of space on the edge of his opponents’ box. It was a bristling, scrappy start peppered with niggly fouls and plaintive appeals. Arsenal did not need to cry too loudly for attention when Coufal threw an arm across Kieran Tierney as the left-back marauded; the offence was clear and earned a yellow card, although the home players flocked to Anthony Taylor in hope of more.

The resulting set-piece was wasted and, overall, of a piece with the early stages. West Ham briefly smelled blood when Aaron Ramsdale flapped at a corner but Arsenal scrambled clear. Arteta’s side were enjoying most of the territory and it was evident, from the manager’s exhortations, that he felt matching the visitors’ energy would reap rewards. He applauded as Martinelli, having originally misjudged a diagonal ball, tracked back to dispossess Coufal; the message was heeded and, as the half-hour approached, Arsenal’s intensity threatened a breakthrough.

West Ham were forced into a succession of last-ditch interventions, starting when a timely toe-end from Pablo Fornals stopped Thomas Partey letting fly. They were slightly fortunate when Bukayo Saka, increasingly involved on the right, exposed defensive hesitation only to slip and kick Arthur Masuaku’s foot. Dawson then intervened brilliantly when Martinelli’s eyes lit up six yards out, colliding with Lacazette as he followed up and prompting loud, futile penalty appeals.

The squall having briefly abated, Fornals was not far off at the other end when bending narrowly wide from 18 yards. But Arsenal were soon back on the offensive, finding particular joy down Saka’s side, and came closest of all when the ball sat up for Kieran Tierney and Lukasz Fabianski brilliantly tipped his volley on to the bar. Before half-time West Ham somehow survived again when Fabianski saved from Lacazette and Dawson did just enough to stop Martinelli converting the loose ball. The quality might have been patchy, but the tension and urgency had come to match the stakes.

The equation seemed simple when the teams re-emerged: if Arsenal could replicate their performance of the previous 20 minutes, it was overwhelmingly likely they would win. They wasted no time in justifying that impression and, when Lacazette took a pass from Gabriel in space 15 yards inside West Ham’s half, the visitors were in trouble. His threaded ball between Coufal and Dawson found Martinelli darting through the inside-left, the Brazilian took a touch and then, with a finish more than reminiscent of his erstwhile skipper, bent a slick low finish around Fabianski.

West Ham had not left the blocks but, when Manuel Lanzini worked space, his deflected shot forced Aaron Ramsdale into a flying save. That aside, Arsenal were irrepressible and should have removed any doubt midway through the half. Coufal reached the ball ahead of Lacazette on the stretch as he ran through, but also went over it and caught the striker. The Czech received his second yellow card, to prolonged complaints, and Lacazette stood over the spot kick. Fabianski parried it to his left and, implausibly, the game remained alive. Smith Rowe, on as a substitute, finally put it to bed with a left-footed drive and Arsenal look primed for a post-Aubameyang era. – Guardian