Arsenal: West Ham draw a microcosm of the entire campaign

For Arsenal, the game seemed not to begin until after Tomas Soucek had secured West Ham’s third goal in just 30 minutes’ time. At the London Stadium, the Gunners were outmaneuvered, outgunned and outworked, until a slice of fortune right before half-time helped to change the fortunes of the match for the visitors.

With the own-goal credited to Tomas Soucek, the second goal, was also an own goal, this time by Craig Dawson. And so, despite having scoring no goals themselves, technically speaking, Arsenal needed only one further goal to bring them level.

Yet West Ham had chances to put the game out of reach once again. While they could not accomplish this with even with Michail Antonio, not to mention the various other opportunities his teammates had across the second half, West Ham are still firmly in the top six hunt, while Arsenal will continue to require assistance towards that end.

Alexandre Lacazette’s beautiful header, straight from the foot of the much-maligned Nicolas Pepe, tied the match and ultimately sealed a point a piece for each London club.

Jekyll and Hyde: Arsenal versus West Ham

One point is better than none, and keeping the Hammers from three points is also a positive. However as Mikel Arteta said himself, the club currently has, “two faces”, and this must be remedied for the sake of European competition, whether from the Premier League or the Europa League.

The first half could hardly have started any worse, while the second half was a much better example of the type of play Arsenal wish to demonstrate match-in and out. Yet in a season marked with consistent inconsistency, the Gunners’ draw was the clearest example of the dichotomy that exists in north London.

Letting up three goals in just a half an hour is embarrassing, yet clawing three back, by whatever means, across the next hour is absolutely impressive as well. While it likely wouldn’t have been possible against a team with more experience and resolve, there is no shame in staging a comeback against any club, no matter the perception.

Martin Odegaard was key to this, as was Emile Smith Rowe, Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe, and Calum Chambers. On a day where Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang had another off day, a three-nothing deficit was not a death sentence for the club’s ambitions.

What is shameful, however, more so than leveling a match you were previously not in, is the initial hole that Arsenal left themselves lying in with only 30 minutes gone. Dropping two points is hard for a team that expects more from themselves, but dropping all three would’ve been discouraging for the Gunners. They currently sit among a cluster of other teams all vying for a top six position and European competition; Tottenham’s win on Sunday makes Arsenal’s task all the more difficult.

But the club have been doing this all year: winning games that you might not expect, losing games you might not expect, and playing up and down across months and months of matches across four different competitions. The Premier League is important, of course, and we will get back to discussing it in but a moment.