West Ham United 1-3 Arsenal: 3 key observations from the game | Premier League 2019-20
West Ham United hosted Arsenal at the London Stadium for the 16th match-week of the Premier League. This was a match between two sides lacking confidence and a win for any of them would have done them a world of good.
The match started with Arsenal enjoying a lot of possession but with no real tenacity or end product. West Ham were creating the bulk of the chances and they deservedly took the lead through Angelo Ogbonna, thanks to some sloppy defending from the away side.
Arsenal didn't create anything in the first period, but in the second half, they came out of the blocks quickly and equalized, thanks to a cool finish from youngster Gabriel Martinelli. The Gunners doubled their advantage right after that through a stunning finish from Nicolas Pepe.
The away side then sealed the three points after a volleyed finish from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which gave Arsenal their first win since October in the Premier League.
Here, we are going to take a look at the three key observations from the game:
#3 West Ham United - Impressive in the first half, atrocious in the second
It was kind of strange to see the downfall of West Ham United during the game. The funny bit about it was that West Ham's gameplan of sitting deep and hitting the Gunners on the counter was working a treat in the first period, but for some reason, the home side changed their gameplay in the second half.
West Ham started committing bodies forward and trying to keep possession, which was really surprising as they were the team ahead. Also, after drawing out mistakes from this Arsenal side, West Ham weren't able to punish them quite often, which finally lead to their downfall.
Manuel Pellegrini's fate hangs in the balance after Monday and nobody would be surprised if the veteran manager is sacked this week.
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