Right, that’s it from me. Thanks for your emails and messages. I’ll leave you with David Hytner’s match report from the London Stadium:
Here’s Mark Noble talking to Sky Sports: “Really disappointing to lose to two set plays. It’s a bit soul-destroying.”
And here’s how it looks for the Hammers:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Chelsea | 34 | 39 | 66 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 34 | 13 | 63 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 34 | 20 | 61 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 35 | 2 | 55 |
| 7 | West Ham | 35 | 7 | 52 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton | 34 | 1 | 49 |
So Arsenal hop back into fourth spot. Here’s how the Champions League race shapes up after today:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 34 | 63 | 83 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 34 | 64 | 82 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 34 | 39 | 66 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 34 | 13 | 63 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 34 | 20 | 61 |
Full-time: West Ham 1-2 Arsenal
Peep! PEEP!! PEEEEEEEP!!! All over! A vital three points for Arsenal after a very odd (and decidedly low-quality) game.
90+4 min: Nketiah does really well to hold the ball up and win a free-kick after Holding heads clear.
90+3 min: Lokonga launches an effort off towards the velodrome after a quick Arsenal break.
90+1 min: Cresswell was also booked for his part in the melee. And Odegaard is off to be replaced by Lokonga.
90 min: Nketiah is booked for preventing West Ham from taking a free-kick. And that sparks a flurry of handbags. Declan Rice, in particular, has lost his rag rather spectacularly.
89 min: Fabianski launches a free-kick forward but it’s straight out of play for a goal kick.
87 min: Saka, who took a whack a few minutes ago, limps off to be replaced by Smith Rowe.
85 min: Arsenal clear after a bit of head tennis in the box.
83 min: It’s all gone very scrappy again, which suits Arsenal down to the ground.
81 min: Another Hammers change: Benrahma off, Yarmolenko on.
79 min: Fine save from Fabianski again! Coufal hands possession to Nketiah, who again cuts in from the left and looks to curl one into the far corner with his right. The West Ham keeper is equal to it … and claims the resultant corner.
77 min: A second West Ham change: Mark Noble comes off to be replaced by Tomas Soucek. And for Arsenal Cedric replaces Tomiyasu, who has hobbled off.
76 min: Zouma calmly deals with the danger as Nketiah looks to skitter past on the outside. The pattern seems to be set at this point – West Ham on the front foot, Arsenal dangerous on the break.
74 min: Elneny thunks an effort yards over the bar from the edge of the box.
73 min: And Arsenal break but Nketiah whips a fine chance just wide of the far post with Fabianski beaten. That was a huge chance to put this game to bed.
72 min: Benrahma does well to dig out a cross from the left, but Fornals’ volley thumps into the shins of Holding.
71 min: And here comes a change for West Ham: Antonio replaces Lanzini.
70 min: Both managers must be thinking about a sub or two at this point. Gone very flat again for both sides.
68 min: Bowen tumbles again as he tangles with Holding but Mike Dean is again unmoved.
66 min: Pass, pass, pass from Arsenal. Passpasspasspasspass …
Updated
64 min: West Ham have weathered that mini-storm and are back in control of things, Rice to the fore.
62 min: Xhaka, who is having one of those games, gives the ball away inside his own half. A few passes later, Holding has to head away Benrahma’s cross.
60 min: Nketiah’s turn to test Fabianski now, but his effort is well claimed by the keeper. West Ham are just wobbling a little here as Arsenal up the intensity.
58 min: Martinelli flings an effort at goal from distance but it’s well over the bar.
56 min: West Ham will be kicking themselves here. Two set-piece goals conceded. Perhaps that’s what happens when you’re so stretched defensively – you can come up with a system to cope in open play but you can’t disguise the weakness from set plays.
GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Arsenal (Gabriel 54)
The Gunners are back in front! Saka’s corner is cleared to the far post, where Martinelli whips it back in. Gabriel has the freedom of the six-yard box and plants his header into the net off Fabianski’s thigh.
Updated
53 min: Fine save from Fabianski as Saka looks to beat him at his near post. Arsenal corner …
51 min: Bowen goes into the book now for diving! Ramsdale charges wildly out of his goal as the West Ham man looks to get on the end of a throughball and the West Ham man dinks the ball away before tumbling to the turf. Pretty risible stuff but well spotted by the officials.
50 min: Again Arsenal are sloppy in possession inside their own half, and West Ham have a throw in.
49 min: Saka goes into Mike Dean’s book for a cynical trip on Bowen in midfield.
47 min: Benrahma sees his shot blocked by Holding as he cuts inside from the right. West Ham have started this half the better too.
Peep! And we’re off again. “I see you refer to the West Ham captain as ‘Nobile’ (min 25),” writes Peter Bowles. “If this is the opposite of mobile I make you about right. Still a legend though.”
The players re-emerge for the second half to the tune of “The Game”, Triple H’s entrance music from the WWE. Do Arsenal have the pedigree to win this one, or will West Ham turn out to be the cerebral assassins? Let’s find out!
Half-time: West Ham 1-1 Arsenal
Well, a pretty dismal contest sparked into life after 38 minutes. Holding nodded Arsenal into the lead then visitors spent the rest of the half willing West Ham to draw level, which they duly did. More wackiness in the second half please!
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Arsenal (Bowen 45)
Well, that was coming. Coufal again has acres of room on the right. He volleys an awkward cross into the box. Bowen takes a touch, which bobbles up, then zips his effort past Ramsdale via Gabriel’s backside.
Updated
44 min: Arsenal have been so sloppy in possession at times and again West Ham are handed the ball inside the Arsenal half without having done anything to earn it. Fredericks’ cross finds Fornals this time and though West Ham can’t fashion an opening, the pressure is on.
43 min: … but an Arsenal head gets to it this time.
42 min: Holding heads away from in front of his own goal as Coufal sends another threatening ball into the area. Another West Ham corner …
40 min: What a save this is! West Ham’s turn to threaten from a corner. Rice glances on at the near post and Ramsdale has to react quickly to claw the effort out of the top corner. This match has gone from 0-100 in the last three minutes.
GOAL! West Ham 0-1 Arsenal (Holding 39)
Well, I didn’t see that coming! The corner is whipped in – Holding gets across his man at the near post and glances his header into the far corner.
Updated
38 min: Fine save! Fabianski does well to get across to Nketiah’s low effort. An Arsenal corner …
37 min: Tavares rumbles forward through the middle but seems to get stage fright as he enters the final third and is crowded out.
35 min: Cresswell clonks the ball forward. Holding nods clear but only to Fornals. Who finds Coufal. Who clonks the ball forward and out of play.
33 min: We finally get a shot on target: Rice charging forward but sidefooting his effort straight at Ramsdale from the edge of the box.
31 min: Saka charges menacingly down the right as Arsenal look to break but West Ham get bodies back to deal with the danger.
Updated
30 min: Holding makes a fine block as Benrahma lines up a shot from Coufal’s deflected cross.
29 min: Martinelli floats in an Arsenal corner from the left but Fabianski claims again.
28 min: The first chance of any real note falls to West Ham. A lovely curling cross from Coufal is nodded away meakly by Gabriel. Fornals chests down the loose ball but pings his shot off towards Stratford Shopping Centre.
27 min: The home terraces go up to claim a handball as Zouma breaks forward from open play. Nothing doing.
25 min: “Greetings from the OS,” writes Ian Sargeant on Twitter. “Good to see Aaron Cresswell in the Steve Potts role of shortarsed centre half. The retiring Mike Dean to send off the retiring Mark Noble?” Well, that would require Nobile to be forced into a tackle or two and there’s been little danger of that so far.
23 min: It does feel like Arsenal should be the aggressors here but that hasn’t been the case.
21 min: Given the high stakes in this one, it’s been a soporific start. Arsenal are sitting deep to nullify the pace of Bowen through the middle but their own attacking talents have barely been in the game thus far.
19 min: Martinelli swings in another Arsenal corner but Fabianski punches clear and the keeper was fouled in any case.
17 min: Nketiah tries one from long range, and the low shot is deflected away for a corner … which Odegaard swings in and Zouma clears.
16 min: Saka is given a little too much space on the left and is able cut inside and try his luck. The shot is blocked by Cresswell but the ease with which Arsenal were able to cut through there might worry the home side.
14 min: Zouma is a touch late on Elneny and the Egypt midfielder needs a visit from the magic sponge.
13 min: Arsenal finally get their collective foot on the ball for the first time, but Ramsdale is forced to go long and the battle for scraps in midfield begins again.
11 min: The Gunners look a little flat at the moment, as the home side caress the ball around the green expanses of the London Stadium.
10 min: … which Ramsdale, under pressure, punches clear.
8 min: Coufal and Fornals combine neatly down the West Ham right, and force Tavares to concede a corner …
6 min: Cresswell steps out to intercept a pass fizzed in towards Nketiah. West Ham have settled much the better so far.
5 min: “What happened to Ben White?” wonders Henrik Nielsen. Tight hamstring apparently.
4 min: West Ham left-back Fredricks takes a throw in … well, tried to take it but his teammates aren’t offering much in the way of options. The TV footage cuts to a close up just as a frustrated Fredericks shouts … well … it rhymes with clucking bell.
2 min: Arsenal force an early corner – which comes to nowt – and Bowen (the best uncapped Englishman in the Premier League?) is bundled over in midfield during a scrappy start.
1 min: It looks to me a back four for West Ham, with Aaron Cresswell tucked inside as one of the two centre-halves.
Peep! Off we go then. Arsenal get us under way.
Click, clack, click, clack … the players emerge into the usual cloud of bubbles at the London Stadium.
Here’s Ed Aarons at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:
The 2pm kick offs in the Premier League have finished, so if you don’t want to know the scores look away now (though, to be fair, you’re playing with fire being on a sport news website if you’re trying to avoid the scores. I mean, seriously, what are you thinking?)
Everton have claimed a vital three points by with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Goodison, while, with more relevance to today’s game at the London Stadium, Tottenham have beaten Leicester 3-1 at the Spursbowl. So as it stands Spurs are up into fourth, and the Gunners will need a win to take the place back.
And here are those teams in text form. It’ll be interesting to see how West Ham shape up, whether they stick with the back four Moyes prefers or whether the personnel available means they have to utilise a back three.
West Ham (4-2-3-1/3-4-1-2)
Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Cresswell, Fredericks; Rice, Noble; Fornals, Lanzini, Benrahma; Bowen.
Subs: Areola, Masuaku, Alese, Diop, Kral, Soucek, Vlasic, Yarmolenko, Antonio.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1 probable)
Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tavares; Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Nketiah.
Subs: Leno, Cedric, Kirk, Swanson, Lokonga, Oulad M’Hand, Smith Rowe, Pepe, Lacazette.
The teams
Five changes today.
— West Ham United (@WestHam) May 1, 2022
Here's how we're lining up...@betway | #WHUARS pic.twitter.com/h81Jp339wG
📋 Today's lineup is in...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 1, 2022
🇯🇵 Tomiyasu starts!
🇪🇬 Mo Elneny in midfield
🏴 Nketiah leads the line
#️⃣ #WHUARS pic.twitter.com/KN8Vep8uYL
Preamble
It’s not been hard to pick up the narrative thread in the buildup to this one: West Ham, stretched to breaking point by their Europa League exploits, are limping towards the finish line of the season; Arsenal, who have spent their midweeks lounging about with their feet up and sunglasses on, are fresh and firing as the end of the campaign approaches.
There’s certainly plenty of truth to that – the Hammers’ backline is likely to be very much makeshift as injuries and suspension bite – but David Moyes’ side have still only lost once at home in the league since Christmas and that was back in January. And, yes, Arsenal were impressive against Manchester United and Chelsea but it isn’t that long ago that they were being soundly beaten by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
So, who knows? Things might not be quite as simple as they seem. Kick off is at 4.30pm BST.
