Arsenal continued their positive trend after beating the guest at the Emirates Stadium, London, West Ham United, Saturday (7/3) with a narrow one-goal victory without reply.
Previously, Arsenal won one FA Cup quarter-final round ticket after defeating Portsmouth. That treated the disappointment of Mikel Arteta’s team due to being removed by Olympiacos from the European League last week.
Quoted from goal.com, Arsenal controlled the match with 69 percent possession of ball compared to 31 percent owned by West Ham. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the attack belonged to David Moyes’ men with 6 shots on goal versus two kicks.
Arsenal started the match with a blunder when Xhaka handed the ball to Jarred Bowen in the third minute. Luckily for the Gunners, his shot struck the post after Leno deflected the ball with his finger. Corner kick.
The 12th minute, West Ham again provide a big threat when Antonio made it through Leno. However, he instead handed the ball to Haller who failed to finish it into a goal.
Ozil opened the opportunity for Arsenal when he got a wild ball that was not thrown perfectly by Ogbonna. However, the kick of a German player of Turkish descent was successfully blocked by Diop.
Arsenal, who began to comfortably play his trademark short balls, again had a chance through wild balls. At first, Ceballos’s corner wasn’t perfectly headed outside the West Ham area by Ngakia. Aubameyang took it, lured it to Sokratis. The last name failed to head perfectly. The ball hits the crossbar.
West Ham threatened with a close-range shot by Pablo Fornals. Leno returned to secure the goal.
Until the end of the first half, no more opportunities are created. However, Arsenal had claimed a penalty when Ngakia dropped Nketiah in the box. However, referees Martin Atkinson and VAR disagreed.
In the second half, Arsenal were finally able to spawn an opportunity through an open game on 53 minutes. Saka cut inside from the right side and sent the ball to Nketiah. Unfortunately, his first time kick was pushed over by the foot of Fabianski, who is a former Arsenal goalkeeper.
Not wanting to lose, Haller cheated a cross ball from Creswell. Leno again acted very quickly even though his eyes were blocked.
West Ham again threatened through Bowen who received a breakthrough bait. Staying dealing with Leno, he failed to pass the goalkeeper. The ball is thrown away by other Arsenal players.
In the 77 minutes, Arsenal broke the deadlock through substitute Alexandre Lacazette. Initially, Aubameyang’s kick was countered. Ozil, who gets a wild ball, heads calmly towards the Frenchman. Lacazette mercilessly volleyed into the goal.
The goal celebration was marred by an off-side flag. VAR checks. Lacazette is not off side. Goals endorsed.
In the final minutes of the match, West Ham had threatened through Antonio and Felipe Anderson. However, the rearguard Arsenal back confront.
Score 1-0 also remained until the end of the match. With this result, Arsenal moved up to ninth, five points adrift of Chelsea, who will compete against Manchester City on Wednesday.
