EPL: Arsenal 3-1 West Ham





Arsenal beat West Ham this afternoon to pick up their first win under new head coach Unai Emery. The 3-1 scoreline does not do the Hammers justice, who had multiple chances to score throughout the game, but ultimately succumbed to an Issa Diop own goal and Danny Welbeck finish from close range.





NACHOOOO! Monreal scored Arsenal's third goal of the season and

made it 1-1 in the process

Both London sides started the game looking to end a pointless start to the new Premier League season. Notable absentees in the Arsenal starting lineup were Mesut Ozil, who missed the game through illness, and Leno, Torreira, and Lacazette, who were starting on the bench for the third consecutive game this season. Ramsey returned to the side after being dropped from their 3-2 loss against Chelsea last week, whilst Iwobi retained his place starting on the left wing due to a standout performance at the Bridge. The Nigerian was also making his 100th competitive appearance for the Gunners.





West Ham had three former Gunners returning to the Emirates in Jack Wilshere, Lucas Perez and Lukasz Fabianski,

who all joined the East London side this summer. Perez started on the bench, as he so often had during his time as a Gunner.





Jack Wilshere returned to the Emirates for the first time since he left on

a free transfer

Arsenal had a fairly poor first half, with their opponents all too easily finding space in the Gunners' back line. Emery had again instructed the defenders to play out from the back and play a high line while throwing full backs forward. West Ham quickly caught on to this and exploited it, mainly down Arsenal's right side where Bellerin was helpless to the counter attack having ran so far forward to attack.





Hence it was the Gunners that conceded first, despite having a Ramsey goal ruled out for offside, when in the 25th minute Arnautovic combined with Felipe Anderson before finding the bottom left hand corner from just outside the box. Arsenal were losing and on course for a third defeat in three games. However, with a bit of "character" as Brendan Rodgers would say, they drew level in the first half, just like against Chelsea. The equaliser came just 5 minutes after West Ham took the lead, with

Nacho Monreal,

who always seems to grab a goal when we need one, scoring from Hector Bellerin's rebounded cross. 1-1, game on!





In the 37th minute Aaron Ramsey almost gave the Gunners the lead, but his shot was deflected and Fabianski comfortably made a save. Arsenal made it to half time still drawing, a lucky scoreline given how many chances the Hammers had. How would Emery spur his team on to earn a first win of the season?





Well, bringing on Alexandre Lacazette in place of Alex Iwobi for the start of the second half was a good choice. The Frenchman made a decent impact, but could not stop the Arsenal attack from slightly losing their spark, a problem they had against Chelsea last week too. It feels like the defenders can't make the right choice between playing it out from the back and hoofing the ball up field, so the opposition always end up regaining possession and Arsenal can't create any attacks. In the 55th minute Lucas Torreira replaced Matteo Guendouzi, who had not played as well as previously but didn't have a shocker. Torreira solidified the defence more, LIKE LAST WEEK- maybe think about starting him next week, Emery? At around the same time, West Ham brought off Arnautovic and they seemed to lose their confidence. Arsenal kept penetrating the Hammers' defence and eventually scored a lucky goal when Lacazette's cross cannoned off Issa Diop into Fabianski's net. The Gunners led for the first time in 70 minutes!





Aubameyang has still not scored this season. Chin up lad!

From there Unai Emery's men were not significantly challenged until Lucas Perez had a chance to score an equaliser late on. He ended up trying to cross but misjudged it, and just a few minutes after he missed, Danny Welbeck scored. The Hammers had pushed most of their team forward and left spaces at the back. Bellerin made an overlapping run down the right, fizzed a cross along the ground to Welbz who calmly turned and scored with his left foot. A win was in the bag and Unai Emery must have been feeling very relieved.





There is no need to be upset, West Ham fans

Overall, it was not a great display from Arsenal. Like in our previous two games, the defence looked shaky. I understand that playing a high line can work, but I don't think Mustafi and Sokratis are the pair to make it successful, so the sooner Koscielny is back the better (he returned to training this week, months ahead of schedule). Also, Bellerin needs to be coached on deciding whether to support attacks or hold back on the halfway line, because Chelsea and West Ham have both targetted our right hand side, knowing they will eventually sneak through. In attack Aubameyang had a pretty bad game again, but I still think he will score 20+ goals for us this season, he just needs to score one to regain his confidence, then I think they'll flood in. Again, he looked better on the left with Lacazette up front. On Sunday we play Cardiff away from home, which will be an indicator of our progress under Emery so far, given how shocking we were on the road last season. We've got our first three points now, let's build on it next week! COME ON YOU GUNNERS!