3 reasons why Arsenal lost against West Ham United | Premier League 2018-19
Arsenal’s poor run over the past few weeks continued as the Hammers landed a potentially decisive blow to the Gunners’ top four hopes. Declan Rice popped up with the only goal of a drab encounter to push West Ham level on points with Leicester City.
Arsenal started the better of the two teams and threatened through some neat interplay in the opening 15 minutes. However, once their initial initiative was seized, they failed to wrestle it back.
The second half started with the Hammers applying the early pressure and they were duly rewarded in the 48th minute with the winner. Emery sprung some changes after going a goal down, yet the changes couldn’t help inspire the Gunners to victory.
After going unbeaten for 22 games, the loss at the London Stadium was the fourth defeat in Arsenal’s last eight games.
A lot of things went wrong for the Gunners on Saturday afternoon. Through this article, we would take a peek into three of those reasons.
#3 Arsenal’s defensive deficiencies come to the fore, again
The game between Arsenal and West Ham was expected to be an exciting affair with both teams not boasting of a water-tight defense. Yet, the game was anything but that. Both teams failed to create clear-cut chances but when the Hammers did eventually muster something of note early in the second half.
From an innocuous cross by Anderson, Xhaka inexplicably headed the ball straight to Nasri. The Frenchman fed Rice and the teenager gobbled up the chance to steer the home side ahead.
Arsenal have now failed to keep a clean sheet in the league since the 1-0 victory against Huddersfield on the December 8. Remarkably, their last clean sheet prior to that was way back in September and on Saturday, they displayed exactly why they’ve become so accustomed to picking the ball out of the net.
Arsenal were by no means under the cosh against West Ham. However, they wilted under the slightest bit of pressure. The road to the top four is becoming steeper by the week and if Arsenal harbor any hopes at all, they simply need to stop offering Christmas presents on a weekly basis.
Many believed that Emery’s Arsenal is the ‘New Arsenal’. Yet, with each passing week, the chants of the ‘Same, Old Arsenal’ are growing louder and louder.