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West Ham United beat Arsenal by 1-0 to cause one of the biggest upsets of the season in the Premier League. The Gunners remain at the 5th position with 41 points from 22 matches while West Ham moved to 8th with 31 points. This was Arsenal’s 5th defeat in the league, while Pellegrini's men registered their 9th win.
Declan Rice scored the match-winner in the 48th minute after the first half ended goalless. West Ham were the better side in the match with 59% possession and the better chances. They also had three shots on target against Arsenal’s two.
This defeat further jeopardized Unai Emery’s position at the club as Arsenal have lost 2 of their last 3 matches now. Emery again looked lost at times and could do nothing to improve his team’s fortunes. Arsenal should find it really difficult now to finish inside the top 4.
On that note, we would now take a look at the 3 takeaways from the match.
#1 Arsenal lacked a playmaker in their starting line-up
Arsenal started the match with a 3-5-2 formation, with Skhordan Mustafi, Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny as their 3 center-backs. However, Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka struggled to control the game in the middle third as West Ham dominated the midfield battle with players like Felipe Anderson and Michail Antonio dictating terms for the majority of the match.
Arsenal clearly lacked a creative player or play maker in their midfield. Lacazette kept falling back in order to to win possession and start attacks and also made some penetrations into the West Ham Penalty box. Aubameyang kept switching flanks, but could not create any move from there.
Arsenal needed one of their holding midfielders to play box-to-box, but neither Guendouzi nor Xhaka could do it for them. Xhaka stayed in his own half for the majority of the match before being substituted in the second half, whereas the former had some wild attempts at the goal.
Emery again decided not to play Mesut Ozil and it should be time now for the German midfielder to think about making a move to another club.
#2 Samir Nasri caused a lot of problems to Arsenal’s defenders
Nasri, a former Arsenal player, was recently signed by West Ham and boy, he turned up against his former employers. He controlled the game in the midfield with his deft touches and played some nice one-twos with Marko Arnautovic to penetrate through Arsenal’s defence.
It was the 507th match of Nasri’s club career and he again displayed his class on debut for West Ham.
The Arsenal defenders struggled to contain Nasri and Arnautovic, as West Ham could have scored a few goals in the first half itself and put the game to bed. However, Arnautovic missed some opportunities. .
West Ham missed a player on the inside-right channel and although Pablo Zabaleta made some overlaps through the right flank, it was not enough to break Arsenal’s defence. However, the Irons scored in the second half through Rice and managed to get 3 points from the match. It was his first ever goal in 56 matches for the Hammers.
#3 Aaron Ramsey and Lucas Torreira’s introduction lifted Arsenal to an extent
Emery introduced Ramsey and Torreira in the second half after his side conceded the goal, and their introduction had an immediate impact on the match. Mustafi and Xhaka were taken off and Arsenal adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation with Torreira and Guendouzi as double pivot in the midfield and Ramsey as the central attacking midfielder.
They looked a much better team with those changes. Aubameyang actually found the net twice for them in the second half, but was rightly called offside on both the occasions. Sead Kolasinac’s overlaps through the left flank troubled the West Ham defenders considerably. Ramsey provided the creative touch in the midfield with his quick passes, tricks, flicks and link-up play, while Torreira helped Arsenal gain some control in the midfield.
However, they failed to score any goals and suffered yet another defeat under their newly appointed coach. Ramsey has played 355 matches for the Gunners and his ensuing departure should make things even more difficult for them.
