Analysis: Arsenal

Still in search of his first Premier League points of the season, head coach Unai Emery made one change to Arsenal’s starting line-up. Aaron Ramsey came in for Mesut Ozil in an attacking midfield position, with the German absent through illness.

Despite lining up on the right of midfield, Henrikh Mkhitaryan moved inside from the first minute, creating one-on-one opportunities for right-back Hector Bellerin against Arthur Masuaku. This inside movement from Mkhitaryan also created a central box of four. Ramsey and the two defensive midfielders, Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi, were then able to surround West Ham’s central midfield duo. Alex Iwobi occasionally dropped into central positions, but mainly occupied the space within the inside left channel – again leaving the wide areas free for Nacho Monreal to move forward from left-back.

Bellerin’s progress along the right channel proved fruitful, as Arsenal created effective chances on the transition and during prolonged spells of possession. The central addition of Mkhitaryan offered Bellerin another target inside the penalty area – similar to those effective cutback crosses seen against Chelsea in their previous match.

Fluid attacking combinations helped Arsenal play through West Ham’s tight midfield unit. In defence, however, they were struggling with the dropping movements of Felipe Anderson. Due to Anderson’s deeper role when out of possession, Shkodran Mustafi in particular couldn’t prevent the forward from turning as he received on the transition. Mustafi began to step higher as soon as the ball was lost, which temporarily created a large gap in the back line. As Bellerin was also moving higher in attack, West Ham started to threaten through their left-sided counter-attacks.

Despite conceding to a hugely effective break from the Hammers on the left side, Arsenal were on level terms five minutes later. Mkhitaryan briefly moved out to the right channel and combined well with Bellerin, who had moved on the blind side of Masuaku. The right-back delivered an accurate low cross into the box, which was eventually turned in by opposite full-back Nacho Monreal.

Emery opted for a substitution at the break, replacing Alex Iwobi with striker Alexandre Lacazette. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moved deeper into a similar role to that of Iwobi, while Lacazette became the centre forward.

The Gunners’ deep build from Petr Cech came under significantly less pressure than in their opening two games against Manchester City and Chelsea, but their play was still punctuated with errors that could have proven costly, had West Ham been more ruthless. Xhaka was noticeably poor in possession, as Guendouzi took responsibility for playing forward passes targeted at splitting the visitors’ midfield. The 19-year-old was also guilty of losing the ball cheaply, however, which nearly resulted in the hosts conceding on the counter for a second time.

Guendouzi was eventually replaced by Lucas Torreira, who provided increased defensive stability but less inventive and effective passing moments. In order to maintain progress in possession, particularly when switching the play, Mustafi would step up to help Torreira and Xhaka switch the ball across midfield. Excellent combination play again between Bellerin and Mkhitaryan down the right side led to Arsenal taking the lead. An ineffective clearance from Issa Diop kept the ball alive in the penalty area, before Lacazette’s spinning effort was diverted into the goal by the Hammers defender.

Despite one final threatening counter-attack from the visitors, Arsenal saw the game out and added a third deep into injury time through substitute Danny Welbeck. They’ll now hope to build on this momentum after securing their first home win and points of the new Premier League season.