West Ham 1-2 Arsenal: 4 positives and negatives from key win

And breathe. If the remaining four matches of the season are going to be anything like Sunday’s 2-1 win over West Ham then Arsenal supporters are in for some nail-biting encounters.

Three points are three points. At this stage of the season, regardless of how many times it is mentioned, that is all that matters. A return to the long-term strategy and playing style can be put on ice until the summer.

That doesn’t mean the points are easy to come by, though.

Arsenal had to dig in at the London Stadium and leave fans barely able to watch on as another performance reliant on defensive steel got them over the line. West Ham rested far fewer players than initially expected which could easily have thrown the Gunners off, but they held their own.

West Ham 1-2 Arsenal: 4 positives and negatives from key win as Mikel Arteta’s side edge closer to Premier League top four

It’s a win that edges Mikel Arteta and co one step closer to the top four, with the upcoming round of fixtures set to prove pivotal in the race for the Champions League.

Unless Liverpool go full Pep Guardiola and bottle it at home to Tottenham, that result coupled with a hopeful home victory over Leeds would see Arsenal take a five-point lead heading into a North London Derby with more riding on it than seen in years.

Under those circumstances, a draw for Arsenal in the derby would see them need to collect just two points, or one win, from their remaining two matches to seal the deal. Or, win at Spurs for the first time in the league since 2014 and top four is all wrapped up.

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves, isn’t it?

The game just passed is the one to dissect and while it’s three games on the spin won – all against sides in the Top Six – it wasn’t a game to rewatch and be especially pleased with from a performance standpoint. There were a few positives and negatives to draw from it.

Negative #1 – Total Lack of Composure

Every now and then the team doesn’t really show up. It’s football, inconsistency is expected, and when there is a team this young it’s inevitable.

However we’re looking at three games in succession where Arsenal have been the architects of their own downfall. Fortunately the attacking side of the team is popping as in games against Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham the number of careless giveaways in the first two thirds of the pitch is startling.

Rob Holding, while excellent in his own box, isn’t the cleanest in possession as shown at Stamford Bridge and on Sunday, with Nuno Tavares and even Martin Odegaard falling foul to the needless. They are just three in a long list that includes almost all of the team.

It could simply be pressure. Everyone knows what is at stake in these final matches and nerves can get the better of most, yet the sloppiness on the ball is fear inducing and creating threatening situations for the opposition without much effort required.

Players like Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny are imperative is such situations. Their experience and calmness transfers into the rest of the team, but it’s counteracted by others’ carelessness – they aren’t always squeaky clean either.

To get the points needed to seal top four, on the ball in the first two thirds of the pitch this side has to improve. When the points are the board is matter little, it just isn’t sustainable.

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Negative #2 – Benjamin White Injury and Knocks All Round

Absent from training in the days leading up to West Ham, if there is a theory to have about Benjamin White it is probably that the knock he’s been carrying for a few games (Arteta mentioned one before the United game) is one he’s had to ride out until Tomiyasu returned.

Once the right-back was able to start his additional defensive solidity meant White could take time to let his hamstring recover. That’s a theory, anyway.

However, Arteta said more tests would be needed before determining whether he’d be fit to come back against his former side.

"“Ben got injured against Manchester United, he felt a muscular problem and we checked him, and we will have to access him in the next few days to see how he is,” Arteta said."

Fortunately it was reassuring news on the other two injuries, with Saka and Tomiyasu both sitting on the bench after their withdrawals and the manager seeming to hint that cramp was the key reason. Still, Saka seems to be struggling in most games now. It’s a concern.

"“Bukayo was fine, he was really fatigued and he has been through a little injury as well,” he added. “Tomiyasu has just that he had been out for so long and could not continue.”"

But in the case of White he’s a huge loss. Holding does brilliantly in one side of the game but lacks the quality in possession that White offers. How and where he progresses the ball is so key to Arsenal, as witnessed in the first half of the West Ham game where Xhaka and Elneny struggled to penetrate the hosts’ front three, and Saka wasn’t getting the service in behind.

Seemingly unbreakable, White’s first injury of the season is not especially well timed.

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Positive #1 – Strength Defending a Lead

Note: from the 70th minute onwards, that is.

It was lackadaisical play that led to Jarrod Bowen’s goal, with Martinelli and Nuno not getting their distances right and Gabriel not being tight enough on his marker, but when it comes to defending a lead late on where possession is mostly an afterthought, Arsenal almost always stand up to the task.

West Ham didn’t really have a sniff when Arsenal shut up shop. Yes, it was nervy as hell, but the hosts rarely threatened despite having 63 final third entries and the majority of possession.

Arsenal made a whopping 27 clearances in this game, seven of which were Holding alone, as whenever the ball made its way into the box it was cleared efficiently. Limiting the Hammers to three shots on target is fair work at their own stadium.

There were also encouraging moments when it came to running the clock down. Across this season one of the notable improvements across the team has been the mightily impressive sh*thousery. Nketiah managed to get under Rice’s skin so much that he acted like a total moron (despite Eddie constantly providing him with jollof rice during their Chelsea days), while the clock got run down expertly when it needed to.

As Arteta said, it’s winning ugly. Arsenal are getting good at that.

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Positive #2 – Everything About Eddie

Even the most ardent supporter of Nketiah won’t have seen this coming. Surely not.

While he’s shown dashes of his talent throughout his bit-part career at Arsenal, never has he looked this well rounded before. It’s genuinely taken us by surprise.

Whether he’s coming short to link play and show off his very adept first touch, or holding his man off to shield the ball, these aspects of his game have improved exponentially over the past year. He was asking for a solid run in the team and, having been given it, he’s producing.

Granted, in the first half he was a bit loose in the technical side of the game. It wasn’t the cleanest display, but then again nobody could lay claim to having one. Yet it was his turn and driving run that forced Fabianksi into the low save that resulted in the opening goal.

After the break he embarked on a shoot-on-sight mentality, being denied by Fabianksi on another two notable occasions with strikes from miles out of goal (by his standards) that required strong hands from the Polish keeper. His movement was clever, his work rate was magnificent, and he added threat either side of the West Ham defence that allowed Arsenal to open up inviting scoring opportunities he created near enough all on his own.

Arsenal need this Eddie for the remainder of the Premier League season. The gradual improvements in his performances suggest they’ll get that. But with him unwilling to be a #2 anymore, for good reason, it still looks like being the end.