Premier League: Arsenal play out 2-2 draw with West Ham United

London [UK], April 17 (ANI): Arsenal’s title hopes took a hit after they played a 2-2 draw against West Ham United in their Premier League (PL) match at the London Stadium on Sunday.

The current table-toppers started off explosively, with Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard putting the Gunners at the advantage 10 minutes into the match. But Mikel Arteta’s side could not hold on to their advantage.
Gabriel started off the game by heading a cross from Gabriel Martinelli. Odegaard, Partey, Saka and Ben White all delivered some intricate play, helping out Jesus score the opener in the seventh minute.

Three minutes later, Martinelli swished the ball to Odegaard at the back post, leaving the skipper in a comfortable position to slam the ball past Lukasz Fabianski. The scoreline read 2-0 in just 10 minutes in the favour of Arsenal.

Arsenal conceded a goal in the first half when Said Benrahma converted a penalty. The Gunners invited their opponents back into the game after Gabriel Magalhaes brought Lucas Paqueta down in the box and the referee gave a penalty to West Ham, which Benrahma converted gleefully. The scoreline was 2-1 in 33 minutes.

At the end of half-time, the scoreline read 2-1 in favour of Arsenal.

After the resumption of action, both sides started off strongly and the visitors looked for a third goal. Martinelli’s shot hit Antonio’s arm inside the box and Arsenal got a penalty.

But Bukayo Saka, who had converted all his four penalties in Premier League so far, missed this kick.

The visitors realised the magnitude of the big opportunity that they had missed when Thilo Kehrer lifted a long ball over Gabriel’s head and Jarred Bowen was there to slam the ball past Aaron Ramsdale in the 54th minute, bringing the scores level at 2-2.

In the end, Jesus came close to earning the lead back for Gunners but failed to connect with Kieran Tierney’s cross. Even Saka, who tried to make up for the missed penalty, saw his shot fall short of a goal as it went into the hands of Fabianski.

Arsenal is still at the top of the table with a total of 74 points in 31 points, having won 23 of their 31 matches, drawn five and lost three. They are four points ahead of second-placed Manchester City. West Ham is in the 15th position, with 31 points in 30 matches. They have won eight matches, drawn seven and lost 15.

West Ham’s next PL match is against Bournemouth on Sunday, April 23. On the other hand, Arsenal will lock horns against Southampton at home on Friday, April 21.

Following the draw, Arsenal manager Arteta denied that his side feels fatigued or feels the pressure of the title race.

“Fatigue-wise? No,” he said in his post-match press conference as quoted by Sky Sports.

“What we produced in the first and second half against Liverpool was similar and today we put a higher input in the second half than we did in the first half. We were slower in everything that we did. I do not think the team is fatigued or looked fatigued. The best way to do it is to convince them how good they are and do what they have to do,” added the manager.

On feeling pressure of title race, the manager said, “I would say ‘yes’ if I see a team playing with [gestures nothing]. When I see a team playing with that flow [at the start of the game], that is not pressure. At 2-0 we were not under pressure. We just did not do what the game required at that moment.”

West Ham boss David Moyes said after the match, “We tried to put Arsenal under pressure, we were quicker and got up to people faster. We did a lot of things better today than we have before. We need to get back to it. It was a big result, especially after being 2-0 down.

“At 2-0 down we did not deserve to be as I did not think Arsenal threatened much. They did look incredibly slick – I did not think people were saying West Ham was bad, so for us to hang in and pressure them. And we got our moment with the penalty kick. It got us back in the game.”

“It is a fine line in football. It is so small. They get a penalty kick after half-time after we started well. We got good fortune with the missed penalty and then I fancied us to get a third one,” concluded the manager.