West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal: 3 key observations from the game

West Ham United hosted Arsenal at the London Stadium for the 16th match-week of the Premier League. This was a match between two sides lacking confidence and a win for any of them would have done them a world of good.

The match started with Arsenal enjoying a lot of possession but with no real tenacity or end product. West Ham were creating the bulk of the chances and they deservedly took the lead through Angelo Ogbonna, thanks to some sloppy defending from the away side.

Arsenal didn't create anything in the first period, but in the second half, they came out of the blocks quickly and equalized, thanks to a cool finish from youngster Gabriel Martinelli. The Gunners doubled their advantage right after that through a stunning finish from Nicolas Pepe.

The away side then sealed the three points after a volleyed finish from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which gave Arsenal their first win since October in the Premier League.

Here, we are going to take a look at the three key observations from the game:

#3 West Ham United - Impressive in the first half, atrocious in the second

West Ham United v Arsenal FC - Premier League

It was kind of strange to see the downfall of West Ham United during the game. The funny bit about it was that West Ham's gameplan of sitting deep and hitting the Gunners on the counter was working a treat in the first period, but for some reason, the home side changed their gameplay in the second half.

West Ham started committing bodies forward and trying to keep possession, which was really surprising as they were the team ahead. Also, after drawing out mistakes from this Arsenal side, West Ham weren't able to punish them quite often, which finally lead to their downfall.

Manuel Pellegrini's fate hangs in the balance after Monday and nobody would be surprised if the veteran manager is sacked this week.

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#2 Arsenal's front three stood up in the second period

Not visible in the first period, dominant in the second period - the story of Arsenal's front three against West Ham.

When their team had their backs to the wall, their front three stood up and made themselves count starting from Gabriel Martinelli's composed finish. The youngster has been Arsenal's best signing so far this season and it's not even up for debate. He has now scored eight goals for the Gunners, which is an output that nobody expected from the Brazilian this season.

Then, Arsenal's record signing - Nicolas Pepe, who has had a hard start to life in the English Premier League- scored an absolute stunner with his left-foot. He cut-inside sold his marker and curled a beauty into the top corner. This was his first goal from open play this season.

Furthermore, Pepe turned provider for Arsenal's third as his deflected cross found Aubameyang, who buried his volley into the bottom corner. Clearly, Arsenal are a delight to watch going forward but unfortunately, they haven't been consistent enough. This was a much-needed confidence booster for Arsenal's attacking contingent.

#1 Two completely different sides of Arsenal were visible

Arsenal were lackluster in the first period, to say the least. They lacked passion, movement, tenacity, penetration, and every other adjective one can think of while describing a bad performance. But in the second period, they were a completely different side.

It's funny how a little bit of confidence can change the outlook of a team. The away side scored the equalizer against the run of play as West Ham were looking like the side, who were the most likely to get the second goal on the day.

After the Gunners equalized, it looked like their confidence has returned and after Pepe's goal, they started to show a bit of swagger on the ball. Towards the end of the game, they didn't allow West Ham to have even a look at their goal. With Manchester City next, Freddie Ljungberg has no opportunity to rest or celebrate. It's to build on this result for Arsenal.