West Ham United 1-2 Arsenal: Gunners reclaim Champions League place

Arsenal reclaimed fourth spot within the Premier League with an essential victory at West Ham and dented the Hammers’ personal possibilities of securing European soccer subsequent season.

It was Arteta’s centre-backs who got here up with the products, with Gabriel Magalhaes nodding the winner early within the second half after Rob Holding had opened the scoring from Bukayo Saka’s Thirty eighth-minute nook.

Jarrod Bowen did pull the Hammers degree simply earlier than the break, controlling Vladimir Coufal’s cross and squeezing a strike into the underside nook in what was a reward for a robust first-half efficiency.

However David Moyes’ outfit failed to achieve these ranges after going behind for a second time – and defeat leaves them seventh, three factors behind sixth-placed Manchester United with three video games remaining.

Gunners grind out very important win

The Gunners are determined to return to Europe’s elite competitors subsequent season and Arteta’s aspect have loved the benefit of getting no continental soccer this time period, that means all their assets may be targeted on attaining a top-four end for the primary time since 2015-16.

West Ham’s solely practical probability of qualifying for the Champions League now could be to win the Europa League – and Moyes’ crew could be forgiven for having one eye on overturning their 2-1 deficit within the semi-final second leg towards Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany on Thursday.

Arsenal struggled to get a foothold, although, earlier than Eddie Nketiah’s intelligent run and low shot pressured a nook, from which Holding climbed highest to move in Saka’s supply for his first Premier League purpose.

Bowen’s sensible end pulled the Hammers degree getting ready to half-time. However, after the hosts didn’t correctly clear a nook, Gabriel was left unmarked on the again publish to move in Gabriel Martinelli’s 54th-minute cross, beating former Arsenal stopper Lukasz Fabianski at his close to publish.

Nketiah may have sealed the success on the break, solely to curve broad, however the 22-year-old continued to show a risk after once more being trusted to steer the road for Arsenal.

The guests weren’t at their fluent finest, however because the battle with north London rivals Spurs hots up – and with the Gunners heading to Tottenham every week on Thursday – restoring their two-point benefit was a very powerful consequence for Arsenal.

Hammers’ season at risk of tapering off

Accidents and suspensions have hit the Hammers they usually discovered themselves with out three senior centre-backs in Craig Dawson, Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna on Sunday, with left-back Aaron Cresswell chosen to associate Kurt Zouma.

Which will have been partly guilty for the hosts coming unstuck twice from set-pieces, however this was additionally West Ham’s 52nd match of the season – 11 greater than Arsenal have performed – they usually struggled to unpick the Gunners as the sport wore on.

The hosts discovered themselves behind regardless of having the higher of the opening half an hour. They responded to Holding’s opener inside seven minutes when Bowen grabbed his tenth top-flight purpose of the marketing campaign, changing into the primary Englishman to achieve double figures for the membership since Kevin Nolan in 2012-13.

Moyes turned to Michail Antonio, rested earlier than Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg, with 19 minutes remaining to attempt to discover a leveller for the second time, however the ahead solely managed one contact within the opposition field.

The Hammers have now dropped factors in every of their previous 4 Premier League matches following a Europa League fixture, whereas this loss introduced their six-game unbeaten residence run within the league to an finish.

Extra worryingly for Moyes, his aspect are winless of their previous 4 Premier League outings – and the Scot won’t need what has been a productive season to fizzle out now.

Participant of the match

HoldingRob Holding

West Ham United

1. Squad quantity20Participant titleBowen

2. Squad quantity41Participant titleRice

3. Squad quantity22Participant titleBenrahma

4. Squad quantity1Participant titleFabianski

5. Squad quantity8Participant titleFornals

6. Squad quantity16Participant titleNoble

7. Squad quantity3Participant titleCresswell

8. Squad quantity5Participant titleCoufal

9. Squad quantity10Participant titleLanzini

10. Squad quantity24Participant titleFredericks

11. Squad quantity9Participant titleAntonio

12. Squad quantity7Participant titleYarmolenko

13. Squad quantity28Participant titleSoucek

14. Squad quantity4Participant titleZouma

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