DECLAN RICE finally got one over his former club at the Emirates but his day still finished on a bit of a downer.
The England midfielder’s previous two appearances at home to West Ham had both ended in disaster with “you should have signed for a big club” being sung from a jubilant away end.
Bukayo Saka made no mistake from the penalty spot[/caption]
Declan Rice haunted his former side, but refused to celebrate his goal[/caption]
While we heard the chant a couple of times today, it was all a bit muted as West Ham never looked likely to manage a third successive Premier League win away to Mikel Arteta’s team.
And it was Rice who scored the opening goal against the club he led to a European trophy although he refused to celebrate.
Bukayo Saka grabbed the second from the penalty spot but Rice, with 11 minutes remaining, ended up leaving the pitch in discomfort.
Arsenal’s injury jinx had already struck in the first half with skipper Martin Odegaard clashing knees with West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville.
Arteta must wonder when Arsenal’s injury problems will ever end.
But at least the team now has two top players for every position which means they are now better prepared to cope with these type of issues.
While Odegaard hobbled off on the half hour, he was replaced by Martin Zubimendi who fitted in seamlessly and his passing was outstanding. What a terrific signing he will prove to be.
Equally, his arrival allowed Rice to move slightly further up the pitch – which is his best position – and the former Hammers skipper was enjoying himself until his injury towards the end.
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For Arsenal, this was a solid yet unspectacular win in what has been a decent week for Arteta results-wise.
They showed guts to win 2-1 at Newcastle, beat Olympiakos in the Champions League despite making lots of changes and now this win over a team which is going to seriously struggle this season.
Rice finished coolly after a deflected ball fell kindly for him[/caption]
It was his first time beating the Hammers at the Emirates since making the move[/caption]
It was only Nuno Espirito Santo’s second game so he had plenty of time.
And already, they look better organised under the Portuguese coach but there is an obvious lack of quality in the final third and the bottom of the table does look ominous.
For Arteta, this was a win on his 300th game for the club as manager and he will hope the injuries are not too serious as he heads into the international break in good shape.
The start of the season did look difficult. So to suffer just one defeat, against Liverpool, a draw against Manchester City while winning the other five is decent.
Even though the raft of new signings, such as Viktor Gyokeres, have all yet to truly start firing.
Saka thought he had scored on his 200th Premier League game but after sticking the ball through Alphonse Areola’s legs, he was ruled offside.
Yet it was only a matter of time before Arsenal scored and just a few minutes after replacing Rice, Zubmendi used the outside of his boot to thread a pass through for Eberechi Eze. While his shot was pushed away by Areola, Rice delivered a polished finish from around the penalty spot.
Saka recovered from injury to score on his 200th Premier League appearance[/caption]
In first half injury-time, Riccardo Calafiori’s shot from outside the area hit the post and Areole was lucky that although the ball hit his back, it did not bounce back over the line.
With West Ham’s attack failing to trouble Arsenal, the new Hammers manager replaced the struggling Niclas Fullkrug and handed a first-team debut to Northern Ireland international striker Callum Marshall who has previously played on loan at West Brom and Huddersfield.
But Marshall barely had a touch of the ball before Arsenal got their second. Saka sent Areola the wrong way from the spot after Jurrien Timber was bundled to the ground by El Hadji Malick Diouf.
It did seem as though Diouf’s challenge started outside the box and while Gyokeres clearly wanted to take the penalty, he was not getting the ball off Saka.
While Saka will now link up with the England squad we will have to wait and see whether Rice will join him.
