West Ham 2-5 Arsenal: Post-match talking points: Gunners still in top form, hammering the Hammers
• Arsenal have scored 13 goals in their last three games in all competitions.
• Bukayo Saka has become the first player in the top five leagues to provide 10 assists this season.
Arsenal have won three games in a row for the first time in months, scoring seven goals and restoring full confidence in their pursuit of the Premier League title this https://ufabet999.app season.
Competition: Premier League 2024-2025
Competition date: 30 November 2024
Venue: London Stadium
Result: West Ham 2 – 5 Arsenal
Certainty and Arsenal’s two-ball
In this game, Arsenal may have scored the first goal from a corner kick, but what made them superior was their complete ball possession, sometimes more than 80%, which came from their accurate passing of the ball, as well as their ability to collect second balls from all their own offensive plays. That made West Ham unable to push the game forward, even though today Arsenal barely pressed much in the upper area because the home team’s offensive game was not accurate enough, they lost the ball quickly, and it became one-sided throughout the first 37 minutes, which made them lead by 4 goals.
The Gunners with a dangerous set play
Arsenal’s attacking game has been red hot since returning from the international break with 13 goals in three games in all competitions. Part of the credit for this is that their set pieces are still incredibly dangerous. The way they played today was like playing basketball. Everyone was a decoy to give one man a chance, knowing who to turn to but being difficult to defend. Two of the five goals in this game came from set plays, and there were many more times when set plays caused problems for the opposition.
The Hammers had the guts and earned their second penalty of the game.
In this game, Arsenal were clearly ahead, but conceding two goals in four minutes left the game with something to watch in the second half. An early defensive error that allowed for an easy breakthrough led to a goal, before another from Emerson’s stunning free kick made the difference, despite being two goals down, feel completely different from the first 37 minutes. Until the Gunners’ second penalty in stoppage time ended the home team’s hopes of a comeback.
The second half saw more second balls from the Hammers and the visitors’ tenacity.
Trailing by three goals, West Ham had no choice but to attack. What they did more was to push forward and recover second balls, which was a big difference from the first half. Arsenal tried to slow down the game and pass the ball with certainty. One side was impatient, the other side slowed down the game, and the risk of players getting injured started to increase.
What Arsenal did in the second 45 minutes was to play a more solid game. They had less possession than in the first half, but with solid defense and not losing the momentum of the game, the three-goal gap did not decrease. Even though West Ham attacked and had some time to collect the ball and push the game, it was nothing more than that. The Gunners played calmly, changing substitutes continuously as time went on, before ending this game with a decisive victory with 5 goals scored in the first 45 minutes.