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Arsene Wenger shockingly announced on Friday that he will be leaving the club after a historic 22 years at the helm and one would expect that would serve as a reason for Arsenal to turn on their style against West Ham United. But that was not the case.
The first-half saw Arsenal failing to play with the tempo that have been characteristic of them and failing to create many openings. West Ham's defence looked solid and the visitors perhaps got the better chances.
Their situation got worse in the 45th minute as Elneny had to be stretchered off after he suffered a serious looking ankle injury. Neither team was able to work the net and they went into the half-time team talk goalless.
Arsenal started the second half with a point to prove and Nacho Monreal opened the scoring as he brilliantly volleyed Xhaka's corner into the back of the net in the 51st minute.
But in the 64th minute, Marko Arnautovic levelled things up as he was found by Manuel Lanzini inside the box and the Austrian brilliantly struck it into the far corner.
Arsenal upped the tempo in a bid to win the match and their efforts paid off in the 82nd minute as Ramsey's attempted cross evaded everyone and went into the back of the net.
The result was put to bed three minutes later by Lacazette whose finished expertly after some good team play from Arsenal. He bagged another four minutes later after some tidy work on the flank by Ramsey as he found the Frenchman inside the box who shot past Joe Hart.
A morale boosting victory for Arsenal as they prepare to face Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
As usual, Twitter came up with it's own views:
TWITTER REACTIONS:
Goals first:
Their first half performance did not go down well:
They were praised later:
Stats to take away:
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