We suffered our first home defeat of the season after conceding in each half against West Ham.
The visitors took the lead with a disputed opener from Tomas Soucek after a defensive mix up, and though we toiled for the leveller – and hit the post through Bukayo Saka – we fell further behind in the second-half.
Defender Dinos Mavropanos, who played eight times for us in the late 2010s, headed home from a corner to condemn us to a painful defeat.
David Raya saved a stoppage time penalty but the night ended in disappointment.
Controversial opener
We saw plenty of the ball early on. Bukayo Saka had our first shot on target after just three minutes, set up inside the area by a wonderfully deft flick from Martin Odegaard, but his shot was straight at Alphonse Areola.
It was a positive start. Leandro Trossard fired over from the edge of the area after we dominated possession in the opening ten minutes.
But then the visitors capitalised on a defensive mix up to take the lead. Gabriel and Alex Zinchenko failed to clear the danger from a left wing cross, Jarrod Bowen hooked the ball back into the area and Soucek converted. Replays suggested that the ball may have been out of play before Bowen sent the cross in, but after a long VAR review, the goal was awarded.
We were slow to get going again after the concession. West Ham were getting back in numbers and packing the penalty area. Saka had our next attempt at goal on the half hour, heading goalwards from Gabriel Jesus’s clipped cross, but Areola tipped over acrobatically.
Knocking at the door
Gabriel Martinelli shot wide after Saka had got in behind the Hammers defence to set up the chance, and frustrations continued to grow as we counted down to half-time.
Saka came the closest to bulging the net for us in the opening half. Martin Odegaard slipped a pass through to him in the box, and although the angle was tight, Saka squeezed his shot past the keeper and against the post. The rebound bounced off Trossard and wide.
Odegaard looked to get us going with a driving run in first-half stoppage time, but he was crowded out inside the area after exchanging passes with Gabriel Jesus.
Mavropanos returns to haunt us
We began the second half seeing lots of the ball too. Declan Rice fizzed a shot just over from 20 yards but West Ham doubled their lead from a corner.
James Ward-Prowse bent in an inswinger, onto the head of former Gunner Mavroponas, who beat David Raya via a deflection off the cross bar.
Mikel Arteta responded by sending on Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah to inject some energy. Within minutes Jesus had a header saved low down, then headed wide when well placed following excellent work from Odegaard.
We were frantically looking for a route back into the game. Trossard drew a smart low save from Areola after a good turn in the box and Odegaard sent a speculative effort wide as desperation grew.
But the goal just would not come, despite us having more than 30 shots on goal over the 90 minutes.
Raya saved a last-minute penalty from Said Benrahma after Rice fouled Emerson in the box, but there was little to cheer at full-time.
And so we reached the halfway point of the league campaign with our third defeat of the season, in second place, two points behind leaders Liverpool.
Facts and stats
David Moyes earned his first ever away win against us in all competitions at the 23rd attempt (D4 L18 before today).
We had 77 touches in the opposition box in this match, the most on record (since 2008/09) in a single Premier League match for a team who failed to score.
West Ham have beaten us twice in the same season for the first time since 2006/07, while this was their first victory at the Emirates Stadium since August 2015.
James Ward-Prowse has provided 10 assists in all competitions this season, just the second Premier League player to reach double figures after Bukayo Saka (11). Eight of Ward-Prowse’s 10 assists have been from set plays, the most of any Premier League player.
We lost at home for the first time since May (0-3 against Brighton), while this was our first defeat in 18 London derbies in the Premier League since a 3-0 loss at Spurs in May 2022.
West Ham have won three consecutive Premier League games without conceding for the first time since February 2014.
Konstantinos Mavropanos scored his first Premier League goal to put West Ham 2-0 ahead. He’s the first former Arsenal player to score his first-ever goal in the competition against us.
What’s next
We conclude 2023 with a trip across town to take on Fulham at Craven Cottage on New Year’s Eve.
Our next game at Emirate Stadium is against Liverpool on Sunday, January 7 in the FA Cup third round.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
