Sport
PL;West Ham Finally Succeded His Target Of The Season
Arsenal missed the chance to go back top of the Premier League as they succumbed to a shock home defeat to an impressive West Ham side. David Moyes’ men got a goal in each half – from Tomas Soucek and former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos respectively – as they pushed themselves up to sixth, above Manchester United. Mikel Arteta threw on Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, but to no avail.
Arsenal slumped to their first home defeat of the season in the Premier League as Tomas Soucek scored a contentious opening goal to help a well-drilled West Ham earn a 2-0 win – their first victory in the top flight at the Emirates since 2015.
Mikel Arteta’s side were denied the chance to return to the top of the table above Liverpool after VAR decided the ball was still in play when West Ham moved ahead against the run of play on 13 minutes.
An Emerson cross caused havoc in the home defence as Jarrod Bowen reacted quickest to flick the loose ball back across goal for Soucek to slam into the empty net.
A delay of three minutes was needed for referee Michael Oliver before VAR confirmed the goal after failing to find conclusive proof that it had gone out, as Bowen set up his team-mate for a fifth league goal of the season.
Despite being pressed back for large swathes of the match, West Ham sealed a memorable triumph when former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos rose to power a header in off the bar from a James Ward-Prowse corner for his first Premier League goal on 55 minutes.
Home goalkeeper David Raya saved a penalty kick from Said Benrahma at the death after former West Ham midfielder Declan Rice had felled Emerson in injury time, but by then the three points were already on their way to East London.
David Moyes’ men move above Manchester United into sixth in the table with a third straight win, three points behind Spurs in fifth, while Arsenal remain two points behind leaders Liverpool at the halfway stage of the campaign.
TALKING POINT: SHOULD SOUCEK GOAL HAVE STOOD?
It is difficult to make a definitive call on whether or not the ball was over the line when Bowen clipped it back into play.
Without hard evidence either way, VAR Craig Pawson was right to concur with Michael Oliver’s original decision to award the goal despite the protests of the Arsenal players and fans.
Arsenal also had a late claim for a penalty dismissed when Bukayo Saka went to ground under a challenge from the excellent Angelo Ogbonna, but again VAR decided there was not enough in the contact to award the home side a spot-kick.
More concerning for Arsenal is the chances they spurned to win the game with Saka hitting a post in the first half and Gabriel Jesus wasting two obvious headed chances in the second half to throw his side a lifeline.
Mikel Arteta’s side need to urgently find a clinical edge to their excellent passing play ahead of their trip to Fulham on Sunday.
