The West Ham vs Arsenal match ended with a 2-2 draw, let’s take a look at the highlights after this match ended.
Arsenal make too many mistakes
In the West Ham vs Arsenal match, individual mistakes cost the Gunners. In the first goal, Thomas Partey let Declan Rice steal the ball right in front of Aaron Ramsdale’s goal. The West Ham captain then passed the ball to Lucas Paquete inside the box. The Brazilian star was clearly cut down by midfielder Gabriel Magalhaes and the referee pointed to the 11m spot.
Arsenal became the second team besides Bournemouth to have two or more players cause two penalties in the Premier League this season, coming from Gabriel and William Saliba. On the 11-meter mark, striker Said Benrahma made no mistake, fooling goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to shorten the score to 1-2 for West Ham.
After letting West Ham have a goal to shorten the score, Arsenal had the opportunity to increase the gap. In the 52nd minute, West Ham striker Michail Antonio let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area. However, on the 11-meter mark, Saka kicked out in a very unfortunate way.
The young English player will surely regret his mistake because just 2 minutes later, West Ham had a 2-2 equalizer thanks to striker Jarrod Bowen. In this goal, Ben White was the one who made the mistake of not coming up in time, making Arsenal’s offside trap a double-edged sword. Bowen took advantage of Thilo Kehrer’s pass to bring home the second goal.
The chance of winning is greatly reduced
Personal mistakes cost Arsenal with only 1 point on the field of West Ham. In the last two rounds, the Gunners both led Liverpool and West Ham by 2 goals very early, but then they fell inexplicably, letting the opponent regain the game and have consecutive goals to equalize the score. . Arsenal did not win for the first time after taking a two-goal lead in two consecutive matches. They are only the 5th team in league history to experience such a scenario.
Arsenal are currently only 4 points ahead of Man City (74 vs. 70) but have played more than one game. The two teams will face off directly at Etihad on the morning of April 27. Obviously, dropping 4 points in the last 2 rounds makes Arsenal’s chances of winning the title significantly reduced.
West Ham deserves praise
Admittedly, Arsenal have made mistakes that are hard to forgive, but also have to praise the spirit of West Ham. The home team was not demoralized after 2 goals conceded early, they still worked hard to develop their two styles of play. The “sledgehammer” made good use of mistakes from the opponent’s defense to score 2 goals, thereby retaining 1 point at home.
West Ham have earned at least one point in a Premier League game by going 2-0 down for the first time since October 2020 when they drew 3-3 with Tottenham.
With a 2-2 draw at home against Arsenal, David Moyes’ team has risen to 15th place in the rankings, the gap with the relegation group is 4 points. Recently, the London team has played much better. In the last 5 matches in the Premier League, West Ham won 2, drew 2 and lost only 1. With positive signs at the end of the season, the “sledgehammer” can confidently stay in the relegation zone.
Oleksandr Zinchenko’s injury
The Gunners received sad news when defender Oleksandr Zinchenko suffered a groin injury and could not play. Kieran Tierney has replaced the Ukrainian who plays on the left wing. Coach Mikel Arteta then shared about the injury of the Ukrainian player. He said:
Zinchenko had a muscle problem at the end of his game at Anfield last week and he struggled for the last few minutes. We have assessed the situation and he is not fit enough to play, that’s why we have good players like Kieran Tierney to replace him.”
When Saliba could not return and Zinchenko continued to be hospitalized, Arsenal fans were very worried about the quality of the defense. Rob Holding is certainly not safe, while Tierney has just had his first start in the Premier League since October last year.