Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Trossard, Havertz
Subs: Neto, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Tierney, Nichols, Martinelli, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus
Arsenal jumped to second in the Premier League table after beating West Ham 5-2 on a breathless Saturday evening, thanks to goals from Gabriel, Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka.
Mikel Arteta made two changes to the side that crushed Sporting on Tuesday, with Jorginho and Trossard replacing Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli.
Both Partey (muscle problem) and Mikel Merino (knee) missed out on the matchday squad altogether despite featuring in Lisbon midweek.
The opening ten minutes felt like a low intensity attack vs defence drill, with Arsenal knocking the ball about, finding their rhythm as West Ham sat back and tried to block any space between the lines.
But with their first corner of the match, Arteta’s men worked more set piece magic and took the lead through Gabriel who found himself unmarked before heading Bukayo Saka’s corner past Lukasz Fabianski. 1-0.
However, there was a scare for the Gunners when some slack passing allowed Crysencio Summerville to race through and finish brilliantly over David Raya, although the former Leeds winger had just strayed offside.
And then the game went mad. Saka should have doubled the Gunners’ lead but curled wide from the corner of the box, before Timber drew Fabianski into a save at the near post from another set piece.
Just before the half hour mark, Arsenal did find their second when stunning play – and a stunning chipped pass – from Martin Odegaard found Saka running beyond a static defence, before crossing for Trossard to tap in at the back post. 2-0.
Saka looked like he was floating on the pitch by that point and another mazy run drew a lazy challenge from Lucas Paqueta in the penalty area, which earned the Gunners a spot kick despite a short VAR check.
Odegaard stepped up and placed a clinical shot into the bottom corner, almost identical to the penalty Saka took in Lisbon on Tuesday, to secure a three-goal lead. 3-0.
Things got worse for the hosts just two minutes later, when a perfectly weighted pass from Trossard evaded Max Kilman and found Havertz in behind who finished confidently beyond Fabianski. 4-0.
Just like last season, West Ham fans were already leaving as boos rang around the London Stadium but there would be a lifeline when Aaron Wan-Bissaka finished expertly at the near post after being found by Carlos Soler. 4-1.
It was a well worked goal from the hosts but neither Riccardo Calafiori or Trossard covered themselves in glory, allowing the defender to run in behind unchallenged.
Incredibly, West Ham found another just two minutes later when Emerson curled in a brilliant free kick – in off the crossbar – from 20 yards although the initial awarding of the free kick was very generous after Declan Rice clearly won the ball. 4-2.
There was time for yet more drama before half time, when Arsenal were awarded another penalty after Gabriel was punched in the head by Fabianski who came out to punch Saka’s corner.
Saka stepped up and scored from the spot despite Fabianski guessing the right way. 5-2.
AND BREATHE. To give you an idea of the craziness, this was only the fourth time in Premier League history that seven goals were scored in the first half alone (Opta).
Arsenal were brilliant for 48 of the 50 minutes played up until the break, yet somehow found themselves conceding twice which will have frustrated Arteta who saw his team in cruise control.
Arteta did make a change heading into the second half, with Jakub Kiwior replacing Gabriel who did look dazed after that collision with Fabianski.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was also introduced for Calafiori after 55 minutes, with the Italian pointing to his groin after he came off the pitch.
Saka and Odegaard also required treatment after finding themselves on the end of heavy challenges, with West Ham taking a more physical approach to stopping their opponents.
With 20 minutes to play, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling were introduced for Odegaard and Saka who were visibly fading after taking a few kicks.
The hosts continued to push without creating anything of note, although you could see the Arsenal legs becoming heavier with each passing minute, as Ethan Nwaneri replaced Trossard with six minutes remaining.
West Ham had a chance to make the scoreline more respectable in injury time after William Saliba slid in needlessly, taking the ball away from Raya but Danny Ings shot wide from a tight angle.
There were some late half chances for Jesus, but the final whistle provided some welcome respite from what was a breathless game.
With Manchester United heading to Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, Arteta will be hoping to get everybody fit and rested for another intense 90 minutes.
Nice
Boring second half but very happy with that. Great result, second in the table atm!
Though West Ham have some positives, scored two goals against the best defence in the PL and conceded fewer goals than last time we played at their ground…
Great winnnnnn
If you’re ever feeling low, just remember – you could be a West Ham fan.
Not only are they such miserable, pathetic individuals that they boo their club legends. But they’ve also had to watch that club legend’s new team score 11 goals past them in two games.
Oh the iron-y.
They got hammered.
I’m forever blowing giggles.
Very strange pundit performance from G Nev. He talked endlessly about our “vulnerabilities” and kept saying things in the second half like “if West Ham can get a goal, this would be game on” which is almost always the case in a game of football. I think he was the only person watching who didn’t realise that the game ended as a competition in the first half. Strange man. Maybe he just wanted to keep people interested. But he created a narrative and he was damned if he wasn’t going to follow through with it. He said at one point,… Read more »
A conceited, stupid man who clearly enjoys the whiff of his own farts a bit too much. Even Utd fans think he’s a tool.
Second that.
He loves to create a narrative and then bang on about it for the whole game.
It’s as if he’s so arrogant that he thinks the story he has created in his head is better than the actual reality of the game.
And let’s never forget that this is the man who said that he didn’t understand Arteta and Edu’s transfer policy and Arteta can’t achieve much more than getting top 4 at Arsenal.
Muppet.
Absolutely spot on every word.
One day we will be able to watch a game with pure objective commentary instead of complete tosh. The manc tit was desperate for some glimmer of hope for west ham. I actually thought we had lost the game 5-2 given the absurd sky narrative and negativity through most of the 2nd half, it’s fucking appalling. Will be a great day when sky sports lose rights to prem even if it is to the despicable amazon.
Totally agree sir!
They just interviewed Arteta and it turns out he wasn’t livid at all and put West Ham’s goals down to their “unbelievable quality”.
Ah well. There’s always the next game to shape into the game you’ve decided it is, hey Nev?
It’s as if he’s memory holed his time at Valencia completely…
Speaking of pundits, not one of them mentioned Rice’s tackle being a perfect tackle, even though yhe replay clearly showed it to be
Unfortunately that just didn’t coalesce with the pre-ordained narrative.
But Liverpool can flukily win against a team on 5 points and get smoke blown up their arse all week.
Why does anyone care what this fool Neville has to say about anything? The job of the pundit is to say things that get attention and “engagement” no matter how nonsensical those things are. It’s a waste of time and energy to pay any attention to those trolls. They are desperate for your attention, so why give it to them?
Somewhere in England, David Moyes is wistfully sipping a glass of wine and trying to figure out how to send an exploding head emoji to all of his former players.
Haha!! 👏 👏 👏
Get in!!!!
A thrilling first half and a ruthless performance from the boys.
I say this every week, but Ødegaard is truly on another dimension.
Saka turned into an assist king!
Also, big Gabi is becoming our very own Haaland.
Conceding a goal from Aaron Wan-Bissaka was frustrating, but their second was unstoppable—even though the free kick should never have been given.
Three points and +3 goals to boost the GD.
On to the next!
Kai Haverz is also becoming a bit of a Haaland*, 9 goals already this season.
*except you know, not terrifyingly ugly
it’s amazing how his scoring has become so fairly routine by now that no one is even posting any “60 million down the drain” comments here anymore because it’s become too banal
Great result. Played the second 45 at half pace. The lads earned having the second half off.
Hopefully, Big Gabi is fine for Wednesday’s battle.
That was as good as it gets. Romp into a comfy lead and give key players rest — Martinelli didn’t even have to get off the bench.
That Havertz goal is the kind of goal I have been waiting to see him score more regularly. Lovely.
Now, let’s hope both City and Pool find a way to nuke each other tomorrow! COYG
Am I a bad person because I am rooting for multiple red cards for both teams in a controversial draw?
No, just an arsenal supporter. Many of us want this; even if we cannot (or will not) admit it.
Fantastic performance and a well-deserved win. We’ve now definitely got our mojo back.The second half was always going to be a bit boring, but who cares?
The only negative today was the first goal we conceded: sloppy by both Calafiori and Raya.
Saka MOTM but we look a different side with Odegaard back.
Now let’s take care of Man United.
Trossard was more to blame than Calafiori. Wan-Bisaka breezed past him as he lost track of events. Cala was entitled to depend on Trossard to cover the channel. Trossard is a very good player, but with Martinelli we don’t concede that goal.
I agree that it was mostly Trossard not paying attention, perhaps because Wan-Bisaka already scored his goal for this calendar year. But, in fairness, it was also a brilliant pass from Soler (I think). If Jorginho or Ødegaard made that pass, we would be raving.
When the script of of “How to be a 8.5 forward player was written ”
Harvetz was the editor
Led the line
Dropped off
Linked play
Got a goal
And ran intelligently all through.
Gabriel’s face after the game! Must have caught it square.
Saliba’s intelligence for the disallowed West Ham goal is amazing. Perfectly timed step forward to make the striker offside.
Special shout out for Kiwior for not kicking the ball into his own net for that chance at the end. He had to react very quickly to retract his leg.
In the first few minutes you could see they had a special plan for Arsenal’s buildup. Sumerville was super narrow to prevent inside passes from Timber (which killed Sporting), Paqueta was playing as a second RB to prevent Odegaard from receiving wide right (which also killed Sporting), and Arsenal were trying to figure this out. Then (football changes so quickly) someone played a diagonal over them to a wide open Saka and from then the game was played in their half. They couldn’t come to grips with Arsenal’s counter press, they had no out ball because our CBs win their… Read more »
If Liverpool opens the door, this team will gladly walk through.
Some of the stuff in the first thirty eight minutes was scary.
West Ham players watched helplessly as the ball moved from player to player for the second goal!
Awesome win! Well played guys… The two goals we conceded were friendly reminders of how hard it is in a long season…
COYG… Let’s keep going.
Here in India, the legend gooner David Seaman roasted Defoe.. Loved it 😃
On the broadcast
Thanks for clarifying. Words like roasting and seaman can conjure up an image of poor Jermaine that’s not pleasant.
Poor sp** Jermaine..
I’m confident if we just score the 5 every game we can deal with the odd goal or two against us.
The way the boys keep mentioning manchester united at the end of this game..
If I were the red devils, I will rather not show up to the stadium.
It’s like John wick coming for Gary neville and rio F.
😀
That was a great first half. That Ob-one Kanobi goal was a little painful given we were cruising to a possible 0:8 at the rate we we dominated. Then a completely superfluous freekick. Rice won the ball, he didn’t even attack from behind yet that twat gave it anyway. Credit to the taker though, no way Raya was going to save that. Of course with big Gab withdrawn, we were definitely going to shift strategy in the second half and they were going to come at us with everything to take advantage of his absence. And come they tried, albeit… Read more »
It’s crazy how that’s a pen domestically but not in Europe
The first half hour was outstanding. After that it was more game management then anything, we’d pretty much already won the game. But that first half hour, irresistible. Just keep doing that..