For Arsenal, this was all about the result.
It was anything but a convincing performance but they showed real heart and courage to haul themselves to victory. That, of course, is all that matters at this stage of the season in the battle of wills with Tottenham to get the all-important fourth and final Champions League place.
Tottenham kept their side of the bargain, beat Leicester and put all the pressure on Arsenal who just about got the job done. The fact two center-halves scored demonstrated Arsenal’s threat from set-pieces and West Ham ’s weakness at the back. Rob Holding scored his first-ever Premier League goal for Arsenal. Brazilian defender Gabriel got the second-half winner and you could see how much it meant at the final whistle.
The Arsenal players went wild on the pitch, they celebrated together before rushing over to the away end while Mikel Arteta hugged his coaching staff. This was a big moment in their season. Three straight wins, they are two points ahead of Tottenham and yet it could all ultimately come down to the North London derby at White Hart Lane on May 12.
The irony was that both Arsenal and West Ham are trying to get into the Champions League. West Ham through the Europa League and Arsenal squeezing back into the top four for the first time in five years.
But on this evidence, neither really looked as if they belong in that company. Arsenal’s nerves looked shredded with misplaced passes and sloppiness while West Ham’s minds are clearly on the Europa League semi-final at Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday.
So much for David Moyes resting all his players for Europe. They have got injuries, but other than Michail Antonio, they started with the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Declan Rice but it was the makeshift, injury-hit defence which killed them.
They just could not keep Arsenal out at set-pieces. It was hardly surprising as Kurt Zouma partnered Aaron Cresswell in the middle as Craig Dawson was suspended and no risks were taken ahead of Thursday.
That should have been an open invitation for Arsenal. West Ham there for the taking. But it was never like that. It was a dreadful first half. So bad, in fact, that many of the fans in the away end had already headed to the bars on the concourse and had to rush back when Arsenal scored.
Eddie Nketiah’s pace and enthusiasm caused problems all afternoon but he just lacked the finishing touch. His 38th minute low shot was pushed around for a corner by Lukasz Fabianski.
Saka’s corner caused chaos, Holding rose highest - not hard when he ended up being marked by pint-sized Manuel Lanzini - and his glancing header just squeezed inside the far post. Holding is such a big character in the dressing room, there will be few more popular scorers.
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But Arsenal lacked the composure to hold on even till half-time. Even before West Ham equalised, Aaron Ramsdale made a super save to deny Declan Rice. Then Vladimir Coufal was given acres of space down the right his low cross found Jarrod Bowen and his shot went in off Gabriel.
There was a real heart-in-mouth moment for Arsenal when Bowen went charging through, Ramsdale rushed out of his box and the West Ham forward went down only for referee Mike Dean to book Bowen for diving. That looked harsh and it got worse for West Ham after 55 minutes. Saka forced a corner after Fabianski made a good save. Saka’s corner was not cleared, Gabriel Martinelli put the ball back in and Gabriel’s header was too powerful for Fabianski at the back post.
Nketiah had several chances to wrap it up but either fired straight at Fabianski or pulled his shot wide. The nerves were getting to everyone and Nketiah had a real ding-dong with Rice who completely lost his head.
