West Ham and Arsenal played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Boleyn Ground to dent the Gunners’ chances of catching up with Leicester City in the Premier League title race. Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez initially gave the north London side the lead before an Andy Carroll hat-trick gave the Hammers the advantage.
However, Laurent Koscielny scored an equaliser to ensure that both sides shared the spoils. The result leaves the Gunners 10 points behind the Foxes having played the same number of games.
Squads
West Ham: Adrian, Tomkins, Reid, Ogbonna, Antonio, Cresswell, Noble (C), Kouyate, Payet, Lanzini, Carroll
Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Koscielny (C), Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi, Ozil, Alexis, Welbeck
Although Petr Cech was declared fit for the game, Arsene Wenger chose to go with David Ospina in goal. Slaven Bilic deployed his side in a 3-4-3 formation with Antonio and Cresswell playing as wing backs.
Ozil and Alexis give Arsenal 2-0 lead
West Ham almost took the lead as early as the second minute when Cresswell’s cross was headed goalward by Lanzini who had stolen in behind the defence. The Argentine midfielder scuffed his shot as the ball went wide of the post but the linesman’s flag was also up for offside.
While Andy Carroll was started up front to give the Hammers a potent threat up front, he went into the referee’s book in the fourth minute with a badly timed tackle on Koscielny. The French defender went down clutching his ankle and took some time to get back on his feet as Per Mertesacker warmed up on the sidelines.
Lanzini had the ball in the back of the net again in the 13th minute when Carroll’s miscued bicycle kick was headed home but, again, the linesman’s flag was up. Lanzini was unhappy with the call and he had a good reason to be as replays showed him played onside.
But it was Arsenal who took the lead when some good ball movement saw Iwobi slide a ball through to Mesut Ozil who took two touches into the box and took a low shot. The ball beat Adrian and found the bottom corner to give the Gunners a 1-0 lead.
In spite of some sustained pressure from the Hammers, especially with Payet testing the Arsenal defence with a couple of free-kicks, it was the visitors who doubled their lead in the 35th minute.
With only three men in defence, the Gunners took advantage with runs from the outside cutting in and it was Iwobi who turned provider again. Alexis Sanchez made a darting run in from the left and the 19-year-old Iwobi timed the lob to perfection to ensure the Chilean was onside. Alexis controlled the ball and took a low shot past Adrian to make it 2-0.
Andy Carroll brings West Ham level
Ospina was forced into a quick reaction save at the other end when Carroll took a low shot to the far corner. Although the Colombian goalkeeper initially spilt the catch, he recovered quickly to gather the ball before the Hammers pounced on the rebound.
But West Ham soon struck back before half-time when Andy Carroll found the target not once but twice. The first was a bullet of a header from a Cresswell cross that was floated in from the left flank. 160 seconds later he found the back of the net again; this time with an acrobatic left-footed shot after the ball bounced up off Gabriel following a scuffed shot.
Half-Time: West Ham 2-2 Arsenal
Carroll completes his hat-trick
Carroll, already on a yellow card, was walking a tightrope with his physical play that saw him elbow Gabriel as soon as the second half kicked off. Soon after, he pulled Koscielny down with Ospina charging out, As all three fell into a heap, Payet put the ball into an empty net only for the referee to blow the whistle for the foul.
But he was not to be denied his hat-trick as a cross from Michail Antonio was headed home. Although Ospina looked to have it covered at the near post, Gabriel came in the way and ended up heading it back into his own net to give Carroll a hat-trick – his first since August 2010 when he grabbed one against Aston Villa when he was still at Newcastle.
Wenger soon rang in the changes with Aaron Ramsey coming on for Francis Coquelin while even Mohamed Elneny was sacrificed for Olivier Giroud. Ramsey had a good opportunity to score when Ozil set him through on goal, even tricking Kouyate with a flick over the Senegalese footballer. Even Nacho Monreal had an effort from long range saved on the line by a defender’s boot.
Koscielny ensures Arsenal come away with a point
The Gunners then leveled the score through their skipper for the afternoon in the 70th minute. With the defenders in the box, the ball fell to Welbeck who stuck his leg out but couldn’t control the ball. However, the ball fell to Laurent Koscielny and he fired it into the roof of the net to set up a thrilling 20 minutes.
Alexis Sanchez almost had a chance to take the lead when he dribbled past two players into the box but he failed to take a shot with his left foot. As he tried to switch the ball to his right, he lost the ball on a tackle and spurned the opportunity. With less than 10 minutes to go, Theo Walcott came on for Danny Welbeck as Arsenal searched for a winner.
But the last few minutes did not see any clear cut chances for either side with both teams failing to make good use of the ball in the final third. Three minutes of added time was also not enough as the London derby ended all square.
