It was the end of Arsenal’s 15-game unbeaten run at home in the Premier League as West Ham United sent the Gunners crashing to a damaging 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium and dealt a serious blow to the Gunners’ title hopes.
Though Liverpool had dropped points earlier in the week, there was little urgency about Arsenal in a listless first half. Their sole strike on target was from Riccardo Calafiori, finding Alphonse Areola’s arms. Tomáš Souček and Jarrod Bowen had threatened before Bowen opened the scoring just before the interval for West Ham. Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a precision cross, and Bowen finished it with a diving header.
Arsenal looked livelier after the restart, with Leandro Trossard forcing Areola into action, but fell to a crushing blow in the 70th minute as the home side were reduced to 10 men on the half-hour mark after a VAR review sent off teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly for a last-man foul on Mohammed Kudus.
Arsenal continued to press forward and, despite going a man down, they were still unable to find a way past a sturdy West Ham defense. The Hammers claimed only their second away win in eight attempts, while Arsenal fall eight points behind Liverpool with that gap set to widen further if the Reds beat Manchester City tomorrow.
