This was supposed to the Christmas that saw Arsenal put the squeeze on Manchester City, a time to put clear air between themselves and Pep Guardiola’s team while the Premier League champions were otherwise disposed in the middle east.
But while City have been winning the Club World Cup and returning to down Everton at Goodison Park, Arsenal will head towards New Year on a run of four points from four games.
Daylight? If City win their game in hand they will actually be ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.
What a time for Mikel Arteta’s team to flatline. What damage this could yet do to a season that has so much to offer them. This desperate result may serve to strengthen Arteta’s hand in the January transfer window. Goodness me, he needs a centre forward. But, that apart, this was a night to suffer, a night when old failings surfaced. Too much football and not enough product. Too brittle at the back where central defender Gabriel was culpable for both West Ham goals. Ouch.
West Ham, for their part, were magnificent and now sit sixth in the table only four points from a Champions League place. Missing key players and losing their master craftsman Lucas Paqueta to a calf injury after half an hour, they won this through a goal in each half from Tomas Soucek and the Greek central defender Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Konstantinos Mavropanos, centre left, scored on his return to Arsenal to secure a 2-0 victory
Tomas Soucek’s opener was awarded after VAR was unable to prove the ball crossed the byline
Jarrod Bowen crossed for Soucek to score with Arsenal appealing the ball had crossed the line
Their manager David Moyes looked vaguely emotional at the end and no wonder. As it stands he will leave West Ham at the season’s end. There is no new contract offer on the table. What a strange world football can be sometimes. They say his team don’t play attractive enough football. Well to the massed ranks of away fans stationed in one corner of the Emirates, this performance must have looked pretty enough.
Soucek’s goal in the 13th minute had to be verified by VAR after it looked as though the ball may have crossed the byline before Jarrod Bowen crossed it. It was impossible to tell on the replays, though, and the goal quite correctly was allowed to stand.
This happened to Arteta’s team when they lost at Newcastle in November, of course. Arsenal released a statement expressing their distress that weekend. This time, they will do well to do nothing. It was Arsenal’s defending that was deficient here rather than referee Michael Oliver and his team.
Arsenal were not terrible on this occasion. They will play worse and win. These things can happen. Bukayo Saka struck a post at 0-1 and Gabriel Jesus missed two good chances in the minutes that followed Mavropanos’s towering header from a corner in the 55th minute.
The Emirates felt anxious here, though. It’s worth remembering we are only at the season’s midpoint. Nevertheless this has been a sobering Christmas for Arsenal. Guardiola and his City team do not need asking twice when it comes to exploiting weakness and Arsenal are starting to exhibit a little.
This is not a time for knee-jerk reactions. Arsenal are second ahead of a game at Fulham on New Year’s Eve. They are in the race and have enjoyed an impressive Champions League campaign thus far.
West Ham were eventually awarded the goal following a lengthy check by the VAR officials
The visitors suffered the blow of losing Lucas Paqueta to injury during the first half
Bukayo Saka went closest for Arsenal in the first half as the hosts sought to an equaliser
Mavropanos outjumped Gabriel to glance in James Ward-Prowse’s corner off the crossbar
Here, things doubtless would have been different had they scored amid a period of early pressure. But a Saka shot and header were the only efforts that needed saving either side of West Ham taking the lead.
Paqueta had struggled at one point during the warm-up and it was no surprise when he eventually succumbed and hobbled off. But the pass he played to release Emerson down the left in the build-up to the goal was pivotal.
The cross from the West Ham left-back should have been dealt with by Gabriel but in attempting to hook the ball clear it struck his team-mate Oleksandr Zinchenko. It was this ricochet that allowed Bowen to cross and from there Soucek ran in unmarked and scored first time from ten yards.
For all the questions about the legality of the goal, it was still an awful one for Arsenal to concede even if their response was spirited and intense.
Martin Odegaard was the prime mover of Arsenal’s attacks but against West Ham’s packed ranks it was unremitting and largely unrewarding toil. Saka curled a shot wide from distance and then Ben White loped forward to glance a header from a free-kick a little closer to the goal.
There were other moments of promise, too. Gabriel Martinelli shot wide after Jesus dummied a Saka pass and it was Saka himself who was to come closest before half-time, running on to a cute Odegaard pass to drive a low shot against the inside of the near post. Three inches to the left and the ball was in the net.
At half-time there was concern but no crisis. Arsenal pushed and pushed as the rain began to fall. Declan Rice skimmed the top of the bar from 25 yards before Martinelli chipped a cross to the far post only for nobody in red to react.
And then, out of nowhere once again, West Ham scored their second goal.
Moyes’ team won a corner and when James Ward-Prowse delivered an in-swinger, Mavropanos outjumped Gabriel to glance a header across goal and in off first the underside of the bar and then the far post.
Arteta looked aghast and no wonder. Moyes, meanwhile, celebrated only mildly, perhaps aware of the barrage to come.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta appeared aghast after West Ham doubled their lead at the Emirates
Former West Ham star conceded a penalty by fouling Emerson in second half stoppage time
David Raya’s saved from Said Benrahma in one of few positives for the home side
Rice tasted defeat against his former side as Arsenal suffered a setback in the title race
West Ham boss David Moyes celebrated the first away win of managerial career over Arsenal
It did arrive in terms of shots on goal. There were 30 in total. But moments of genuine concern were few for West Ham. Jesus failed with two headers – the second was a bad miss – while Saka went down over Angelo Ogbonna’s leg in the box and got precisely nothing. Another good call.
There was to be a penalty at the death, mind, and a personal horror moment for Rice against his old club.
His 94th minute trip on Emerson was that of a tired player and with West Ham supporters ready to mock him for the rest of time, he was doubtless relieved to see David Raya dive left to save Said Benrahma’s kick.
By way of genuine consolation, it will not even have registered.
