Arsenal 2-0 West Ham: 4 major positives for Arteta’s side

Normally when Arsenal win we try to add some balance to the discussion and pinpoint where there were negatives in the performance. It’s all positive on this occasion.

Well, not entirely positive, since rarely ever is a 90-minute display faultless, but there were only minor notes to pick up from the 2-0 win over West Ham and they needn’t be discussed at length.

Did Arsenal sit back a bit too much when they missed the penalty? Perhaps they did, yes. It’s also worth remembering that the were facing a side above them in the table who’ve beaten Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks. There was naturally going to be some hesitancy.

That would be nitpicking. Arsenal have faltered on every occasion presented to them this season to move up the table against top opposition chasing for Europe (note: Tottenham were not top opposition at the time), so to have left this game two goals to the good and with a clean sheet is only going to warrant praise galore.

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham: 4 major positives from Premier League win as Arteta’s side move up into the top four

Mikel Arteta has overseen some fantastic wins during his reign just as he’s helped manufacture some hopeless defeats. This firmly classes as the former and as far as a complete performance, it’s got a strong case to be top of the whole pile.

Sitting in the top four looks great. Supporters are well aware that the constant cancellations of Premier League matches for the likes of Tottenham and Manchester United have helped in that regard, but purely from an optics point of view it has to instill some real pride in the manager after the start to the season.

Of course, it’s now about the consistency.

Up next is Leeds and then Norwich. One side is battling relegation and the other have nine fit senior players, just lost 7-0 and are, probably, battling relegation. With six points surely on the agenda, the positives to draw from Wednesday will put Arsenal in good stead.

1. The Comfort of the Win

It really did feel comfortable. It felt, above all, complete.

West Ham didn’t really lay a glove on Arsenal. Recording an xG of 0.08 in the first half and 0.37 overall, it fell to Pablo Fornals to have their best chance of scoring when he curled an effort just wide of the post. Their only other major chance was handed on a plate to them.

Arsenal controlled this game for longer than they’ve controlled any this season, excluding, perhaps, Newcastle at home. It was intense from the first minute. They didn’t give the visitors any joy playing out from the back with a well worked pressing an counter-pressing system and every single one of the back four left with a piece of Michail Antonio in their pocket.

At half-time the concern was whether the energy levels could be maintained. It took only two minutes for the pressure to tell.

Arsenal kept their foot on the gas, with clever combination play down both flanks as the full-back and wide players stood off and pressed in perfect symmetry, while West Ham breaks were snuffed out in the middle of the park.

There was an aforementioned wobble/easing of the pedal briefly after the penalty miss, but it’s understandable against opposition of this quality as well as factoring in that Arsenal haven’t been leading against a top four side all season long.

Few sides will leave a match against West Ham dominating as much as Arsenal did.

Continued on next page…