Late Heartbreak For West Ham As Nketiah Steals all three points for Arsenal

West Ham lost 2-1 to Arsenal in a narrow defeat at the Emirates, with Eddie Nketiah popping up to score the winner late on for the Gunners and to deepen West Ham’s troubles.

Team news

West Ham were without club Captain Mark Noble and Jack Wilshere due to the pair picking up injuries during training midweek.

Moyes made just one change to the side that lost 2-0 to Newcastle, by opting to play with a back three and bringing in Arthur Masuaku for the injured Mark Noble.

Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson were surprise omissions from the starting eleven, having both got on the scoresheet in the midweek win against Charlton Athletic.

Another surprise absence was Josh Cullen who had really impressed in preseason and in the Carabao cup game. Cullen wasn’t even on the team sheet leaving the 24-year-old surely wondering what he has to do in order to finally get his chance.

Hammers regular, Declan Rice captained the Hammers for the second time in his Claret and Blue career.

Match Report

The Gunner’s originally started well and came close to an opener with Lacazette wriggling through the West Ham Defence before being tackled by Ogbonna just before the Frenchman could pull the trigger.

Despite Arsenal’s early pressure, it was West Ham that had the first chance of the game with Declan Rice heading Cresswell’s corner back across goal only for Ogbonna for head a weak effort into Bernd Leno’s arms.

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The Hammers then began to get into their stride and grow in confidence, with Michail Antonio powering down the right-wing in the 13th minute and firing a low effort into Leno’s arms.

The Hammers had a penalty appeal just minutes later with Jarrod Bowen going down in Arsenals box after minimal contact with Gabriel, despite having the chance to play Pablo Fornal’s through on goal. However, Micheal Oliver says no penalty.

Despite all West Ham’s dominance early on it was Arsenal who made up for their early sloppy play and took the lead through Alexander Lacazette in the 24th minute to make it 1-0. It was Saka who played a great through ball to Aubameyang who then chipped a beautiful ball across goal to an unmarked Lacazette and the Frenchman made no mistake in burying away his header.

The Hosts then had the chance to double their lead just minutes later when Willian found Saka in space just outside the box. However, the youngster rushed his shot and sent his effort sailing over the crossbar.

The Hammers then had another stronger penalty claim in the 33rd minute, when the ball seemed to strike Gabriel’s upper arm following a West Ham corner. Yet again Michael Oliver wasn’t interested but it seemed to be identical to the penalty given against Manchester United in the earlier game.

Despite all of Arsenal’s pressure to grab a second goal, it was the Hammers who struck back on the counter attack late on in the second half to drag the scores level.

It was a great move, started by Jarrod Bowen who drove the ball into Arsenal’s half before sliding Fredericks through to whip in a great low driven cross which was finished by Michail Antonio. The inform Antonio was never going to miss, having now scored 10 goals in his last 13 league games.

Although West Ham went into halftime on the front foot, they had to fight to get back into the game after play resumed, with Arteta’s Arsenal side coming out strongly and barely giving the Hammer’s a sniff.

West Ham did fight back, however, and managed to get back onto the front foot with Masuaku playing a particularly big part. The Wingback seemed to have regained his form and was causing Hector Bellerin some issues down the left flank.

It was Masuaku that created the first big chance for West Ham to take the lead in the tie as the DR Congo international whipped a great ball into the box for Antonio and Soucek. However, the pair just couldn’t get the definitive touch to send it over the line.

West Ham again had a big chance to take the lead in the 66th minute, when Antonio connected sweetly with another great cross from Masuaku and sent his header thundering off the crossbar.

The Gunners took hope from West Ham failing to take their chances and started to grow back in the game with Saka and Aubameyang looking increasingly dangerous.

In the end, it was Eddie Nketiah who broke West Ham hearts and converted from close range in the 85th minute, with one of his first touches, to seal all three points for Arsenal and leaving West Ham to rue their missed chances.

Despite a late attempt by Moyes to get back in the game by subbing on Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson, the damage had been done and Arsenal took the points.

Post-Match Analysis

Despite the late heartbreak, it was a promising performance from West Ham as they made a massive improvement on their game against Newcastle. The new formation worked well and it has given fans an insight on how Moyes will likely set up for the season.

Despite the promising performance, there were some worrying and reoccurring issues that surfaced. The main negative brought from the game was that yet again, Moyes’ refusal to make substitutions earlier, has cost the team points.

This isn’t the first time that the Scotsman’s stubbornness has resulted in dropped points as many Hammers fans will remember. Moyes must start to make substitutions early, especially when players are still building up their match fitness. Bringing both Haller and Anderson on in the 88th and 89th minute respectively is, for a lack of other words, pointless.

The other negative was that Moyes still seems to be sticking to his preferred line ups even if it pulls players out of position. Despite good performances from Anderson and Haller midweek against Charlton Athletic, both were sent straight back to the bench for today’s game.

It would have been much more effective to play Anderson on the wing as the Brazilian is naturally a Winger, unlike Fornals who fails to make much of an impact on games out wide as it is not his favoured position.

The same can be said for Antonio and Haller. The Frenchman is an out and out Striker, whereas Antonio is naturally a winger. While Antonio can operate as a Striker with effect, he frequently pulls out wide and leaves no one in the box to whip crosses into.

Moyes surely has to start playing his £45 million Striker as the former Frankfurt player has proved to be clinical in front of goal when called upon.

The Hammers faithful will be hoping to see Haller involved next Sunday as West Ham’s search for their first win sees them travel up to the Black Country to face Nuno’s Wolverhampton Wanderers.