Arsenal Title Hopes Hit In Shock Defeat By West Ham

Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes suffered a hammer blow when Jarrod Bowen’s goal just before halftime gave London rivals West Ham United a surprise 1-0 away victory on Saturday.

Bowen headed in from close range in the 44th minute and Arsenal’s feeble attack, missing a host of injured forwards, could not prevent a first home league defeat of the season.

Arsenal barely troubled visiting keeper Alphonse Areola, managing two shots on target, and played the last 20 minutes with 10 men after substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly was red-carded for hauling down Mohammed Kudus.

Mikel Arteta’s second-placed side have 53 points from 26 games, eight behind leaders Liverpool who face champions Manchester City away on Sunday.

Arsenal’s last home league defeat came 10 months ago against Aston Villa and that ultimately proved decisive as they failed to prevent Manchester City winning a fourth successive title.

As Arsenal’s fans drifted out of the stadium on Saturday they surely felt as though another title bid was set to end in failure, especially if Liverpool win on Sunday.

With Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka all out injured, makeshift forward Mikel Merino proved the unlikely solution last week with both goals in a 2-0 victory at Leicester City.

Arsenal could have closed the gap with Liverpool to five points and exerted some real pressure on Arne Slot’s side if they had beaten a West Ham side they trounced 5-2 away this season.

Instead, West Ham were full value for only their second win in six league games under new manager Graham Potter.

Arsenal’s attacking limitations were cruelly exposed in a first half in which West Ham’s defence was able to stroll on a balmy spring-like afternoon in north London.

Apart from a thunderous shot by Riccardo Calafiori that went straight at West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola, the hosts did nothing with their territorial superiority.

West Ham, on the other hand, looked dangerous on the counter-attack with Tomas Soucek twice heading off target and skipper Bowen dragging a shot wide.

With halftime approaching Arsenal’s fans were already getting restless when West Ham took the lead.

Bowen won the ball on the edge of his own area and fed it to Aaron Wan-Bissaka who cruised down the right side before crossing for Bowen to stoop and head past David Raya.

West Ham fans were enjoying themselves and let out a huge cheer when Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was replaced early in the second half by teenager Lewis-Skelly after an ineffective display against his old club.

Arsenal were huffing and puffing after the break and their task got even harder when Lewis-Skelly dragged down Kudus on the halfway line as the West Ham player was set to break clear with Raya well out of his goal.

A yellow card was initially shown but, after a VAR monitor check, referee Craig Pawson upgraded it to red.

West Ham survived some late pressure against the 10 men as they moved to 30 points from 26 games.

(Reuters)