LONDON – Mikel Arteta praised Arsenal’s mental strength to strike late through Eddie Nketiah and beat West Ham 2-1 despite an underwhelming performance at the Emirates.
The Gunners move level with Everton and Crystal Palace on maximum points at the top of the table after two games but we're far from the standards they have set under Arteta.
After Michail Antonio cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette’s opener for the hosts, West Ham enjoyed the majority of the chances.
Antonio saw a second-half header come back off the bar, but Arsenal was ruthless with their chance to win the game as Dani Ceballos timed his run perfectly behind the West Ham defence to square for Nketiah, who had the simple task of rolling into an empty net.
“I am really happy with the three points and it’s a time to analyse properly because we have a lot of issues,” said Arteta.
“What I like is the approach the boys had in the last 25 minutes where I could see they were a bit down and then they lift it and probably a few months ago we would have drawn or lost that game and today we win it.”
“In the end, you have to find a way because there will be games like this through the season.”
After winning the FA Cup, Community Shield and starting their flourishing season by winning 3-0 at Fulham on the opening weekend, Arsenal was expected to swot aside a West Ham team that was easily beaten by Newcastle a week ago.
But David Moyes’s men deserved something to show for their performance and felt hard done by with some decisions that went against them.
After a relatively trouble-free first weekend of the season for the VAR reviews, the inconsistent application of what constitutes handball reared its head on Saturday.
Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof was penalised for handling inside the box during his side’s 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace, but West Ham was not awarded a penalty for what seemed like a much more obvious handball from Gabriel Magalhaes early on.
“I definitely think we should have had a penalty,” said Moyes. “But we don't know the rules, really, do we?”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang committed his future to Arsenal earlier this week by signing a new three-year contract and the Gunners’ prolific goalscorer was the creator for the opening goal as he just managed to stay onside from Bukayo Saka’s pass before crossing for Lacazette to power a header home.
That was the only clear opening the hosts created before half-time and West Ham levelled just before the break when Antonio outmuscled Rob Holding to turn home Ryan Fredericks’s inviting cross.
Antonio was a constant menace to the Arsenal defence and came close twice more in the second period.
Gabriel just did enough to take the sting out of his first effort for Bernd Leno to save on the line before Antonio powered a header back off the crossbar.
And West Ham was made to rue those missed chances as Arsenal was clinical with their only clear sight of goal in the second half.
“Not to be rewarded with some points tonight is really hard on us,” added Moyes. “For us just to turn off in the last five minutes, it’s criminal.”
Ceballos and Nketiah were involved in a spat during the warm-up at Craven Cottage last weekend but showed they were back on the same wavelength as the Spanish midfielder unselfishly squared for the England under-21 international.
“We made up pretty quickly,” said Nketiah. “That’s what happens in life and it was nice for him to make the assist for me today, so it’s all love.” – AFP, September 20, 2020
