Arsenal Vs West Ham: 5 things we learned – Gabriel Martinelli, superstar

Arsenal travelled to West Ham United on Monday night looking for their first win in over two months. Here are five things we learned from the 3-1 victory.

It was October 6th when Arsenal were last winning a match in the Premier League. The two-month period that saw them play just one team of real note, Leicester City, is their worst run of form in 42 years. They sacked their manager and saw no change. They changed tactics players, captains, everything, and could not break out of their funk. Until now. Nine minutes and three excellent goals saw the Gunners come from behind to beat West Ham United 3-1 for their first victory since 2011 when they trailed at half-time.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — A Christmas Miracle

Here are five things we learned.

5. Freddie rings the changes

When Unai Emery was sacked on a Friday morning with a match just two days later, it was always going to be difficult for interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg to make many sweeping changes. He even admitted as much, revealing that the limited training sessions restricted the number and extent of changes that he could enact.

But for this match, his third as head coach, Ljungberg swung the axe and rotated through his squad. David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette, Sead Kolasinac and Joe Willock were all dropped, while Nicolas Pepe made his first start and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moved up-front with Mesut Ozil in behind.

Based on the first-half showing, Ljungberg’s changes did not work. The play was still horribly slow, there was a lack of injection and intensity, in and out of possession, chances were difficult to create, and there was very little to be positive about. It was nice to see Ljungberg enact change, but those changes need to have an impact.