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Arsenal beat West Ham United 2-1 in the Premier League at the London Stadium on Sunday, May 1 in a nervy fixture for both sides.
The onus was on the Gunners to reclaim fourth spot after local rivals Tottenham Hotspur went above them earlier in the day. They made light work of Leicester City, beating them 3-1.
Both Mikel Arteta and David Moyes made multiple changes to their team.
For the Gunners, Ben White was out due to a hamstring injury and was replaced by Rob Holding. Takehiro Tomiyasu made his first start since January at right-back.
Meanwhile, Moyes decided to rest Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio for their Europa League second leg semi-final clash against Eintracht Frankfurt.
It was a cagey affair till the 30th minute mark but picked up pace as time went by. Arsenal were sloppy in possession and lacked the urgency to put the opposition under pressure for the better part of the game. The home side attacked from the flanks, challenging both Arteta's fullbacks, Tomiyasu and Nuno Tavares.
Eddie Nketiah tried to drop deep on multiple occasions to get involved and it worked well and helped Arsenal register their first shot on target. The resulting corner saw Holding break the deadlock with his first-ever Premier League goal as he headed Bukayo Saka's inswinging delivery.
Moments later, Declan Rice came extremely close to heading home the equalizer from West Ham's corner. But Aaron Ramsdale rose to the occasion and added to his tally of amazing saves by flicking the ball over. However, West Ham deservedly drew level in the dying minutes of the first-half.
Jarrod Bowen's strike from close range took a deflection from Gabriel Magalhaes and creeped past Ramsdale. However, there was redemption waiting for the Brazilian centre-back in the second-half.
West Ham defended a corner well, but Gabriel Martinelli recycled the ball and delivered a cross to the far post. Gabriel scored a bullet header past Lukas Fabianski and to secure crucial three points for Arsenal.
Arsenal survived a second-half blitz from West Ham to clinch all three points
For the remainder of the game, the Gunners tried to resist pressure from Moyes' side. The Hammers were arguably better between the boxes but were unable to convert their chances. Ramsdale was lucky to stay on the pitch after he came flying out of the box and challenged Bowen to stop a counter.
Mike Dean instead booked the West Ham forward for diving, which seemed a little harsh. Nketiah had multiple moments when his positional awareness and quick pace helped him break through on the counters. However, the striker was unable to beat Fabianski in goal.
Arsenal managed to ride their luck and reclaimed the fourth spot with a two-point lead over Spurs courtesy of goals from their centre-backs. Here is how Twitter reacted to the Gunners' performance at the London Stadium.
