West Ham 1-3 Arsenal: Gunners’ nine-minute burst enough to give Ljungberg a first victory and end nine-game winless run
In the end all it took was one morsel of confidence to build on.
For successful teams winning becomes a habit; over the last nine games Arsenal had forgotten how to do it.
Booed off after 45 minutes in the London Stadium tonight it looked like the Gunners were set for another dispiriting night on which the winless streak and the discontent rumbled on.
And while the club hierarchy should still be moving quickly in their bid to find a long-term successor to Unai Emery, his replacement has at least stopped the rot for now.
A trip to play one of the few sides dealing with similar struggles appeared the perfect opportunity for Freddie Ljungberg to make his mark after a draw against Norwich and defeat by Brighton, but for two thirds of the match the pervasive feeling of underperformance worked in West Ham’s favour.
Arsenal saw plenty of the ball but went nowhere with it. Sequences of passes broke down every time they appeared to be building. Heads dropped and responsibility was passed onto the next player.
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Injuries to Hector Bellerin in the warm-up and Kieran Tierney inside the first half-hour added to an atmosphere which alternated between flat and miserable. That was only enhanced when Arsenal failed to clear a corner and Declan Rice, Pablo Fornals, Angelo Ogbonna and finally the back of Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ head combined to provide a scrappy opening goal befitting the occasion.
Behind by a goal at half-time and without an attempt on target, Arsenal were in desperate need of inspiration. But this was no tale of immediate redemption following a rocket from their stand-in manager.
Flash of quality
The Gunners came back out and for 15 minutes were just as poor. Granit Xhaka’s ludicrous attempt at a cross-field pass presented Robert Snodgrass an opportunity. Nicolas Pepe was easily dispossessed to spark a West Ham counter, which required Bernd Leno to make a save from Declan Rice’s shot. Arsenal countered but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ballooned a cross out of play from the byline.
Then, suddenly, a flash of quality. Lucas Torreira picked out Sead Kolasinac’s overlapping run and the left-back crossed for Gabriel Martinelli to side-foot into the bottom corner. The 18-year-old Brazilian’s first Premier League goal, on his first start, rocked West Ham and woke up Arsenal.
Six minutes later Pepe, who had previously been full of endeavour but characteristically wayward, found his radar, collecting Aubameyang’s pass, cutting inside and curling into the top corner for another Gunners first – the £72m man’s first goal from open play for the club.
With their opponents disintegrating like wet tissue paper, Arsenal made their first league win since 6 October safe. Pepe cut inside once again and crossed smartly for Aubameyang to volley through David Martin’s grasp.
Far from perfect
Chants of “we are staying up” from the away fans reverberated around a cavernous and rapidly emptying London Stadium. West Ham slid inexorably towards a third successive home defeat and their seventh in the last nine games, but after a long 64 days which felt like a lifetime for Gunners supporters, Arsenal were finally getting back to winning ways.
It was far from perfect. It was nine minutes of positive action – a brief spell in which they scored from each of their three attempts on target.
But considering the run they were on, and the staggering fact that they hadn’t won a Premier League away game after trailing at half-time since October 2011, it was a much-needed start.
For West Ham this was confirmation that their shock 1-0 away win at Chelsea on 30 October might well have been an anomaly, not a sign of pending improvement.
The Hammers have been reluctant to call time on Manuel Pellegrini’s stint in charge, but Saturday’s trip to face struggling Southampton is now looking like a must-win fixture.