Arsenal could not have wished for a worse afternoon at the Emirates Stadium as their title dream were dealt a crushing blow.
Arsenal struggled to make any impact in the game despite Ethan Nwaneri being compared to Dennis Bergkamp by fans following a number of sublime touches.
Jarrod Bowen gave West Ham the lead on the stroke of half time after some poor defending from Riccardo Calafiori and Declan Rice. Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhaes didn’t cover himself in glory either for the goal.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off for the second time in six games for a foul on Mohammed Kudus and as if things couldn’t get worse for Mikel Arteta, he was forced to take off Ethan Nwaneri late on.
Mikel Arteta provides update on Ethan Nwaneri fitness
Speaking at his post-match press conference following Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham, Arteta has quashed fears of an injury to Nwaneri.
When asked about the youngster’s withdrawal from the game and whether it was due to injury, Arteta stated: “Hopefully not.”
It seems that the 17-year-old was just suffering with fatigue having put everything in to trying to turn the game around for his side.
Arteta rotated Lewis-Skelly out of the team ahead of a midweek clash against Nottingham Forest but doesn’t have that luxury with Nwaneri given Arsenal’s severe lack of options up top.
Arteta refuses to blame defeat on a lack of a striker
Having drawn a blank at home and surely putting an end to any hopes of lifting the Premier League title, Arteta has refused to blame the defeat on the lack of a striker.
Arteta stated: “No, no, no, honestly again I think we have to look in the mirror of ourselves of what we can do better, what we have done and the will and the desire and the way we run and the way we want it, zero question about that.
“But at that level this is not enough, you have to deliver and it has to be with a lot of quality to break a really good team down, to win many more games than we have done and to put actions that can end up in really threatening moments for the position to win the games and today we haven’t done that.”
The Gunners had 20 attempts on the West Ham goal but managed just two on target and failed to really create any clear-cut openings throughout the match.
It does feel now that the Champions League is the last chance at a trophy for Arteta’s men and even that has been made difficult following Arsenal’s nightmare run to the Champions League final.
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