- Arsenal suffer fifth defeat of this Premier League season following their 1-0 defeat to West Ham United
- Declan Rice scored the only goal that separated the two sides after normal regulation period
- Unai Emery's men are however 14 points shy of league leaders Liverpool with 55 points after 22 matches
Declan Rice's 48th minute strike was all West Ham United needed to beat visiting Arsenal 1-0 at the London Stadium this weekend.
It was a tough encounter that witnessed the Hammers rise two places on the log to eighth place after the hosts claimed maximum points in the meeting.
Felipe Anderson moved passed Alexandre Lacazette to sweep the ball in only for Samir Nasri to find Rice, who made no mistake in scoring through a superb strike to the top corner.
Emery attempted to amend his team that seemed to have been out-muscled in the mid by the Hammers throughout the encounter.
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The ex-Paris Saint Germain manager made key substitutions, taking off Granit Xhaka, Shokdran Mustafi and Maitland-Niles for Hector Bellerin, Locus Torreira and Aaron Ramsey.
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Although the Gunners did show one or tow shimmers of hope, it was not their day as West Ham kept piling on pressure that they were unable to cope with, loosing out on possession.
Marko Arnautovic and Anderson were a constant threat, stringing up passes with newly signed Nasri, who played incredibly well against his former team.
The Gunners were unable to find their two key forwards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lacazette, desperate to score but cut short of their ball supply by the Hammers.
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Regardless, Emery's men seemed more satisfied with floating the ball around and never looked to be a real threat to Manuel Pellegrini's men.
Rice scored his first goal for West Ham and it was enough to decide the day against a really poor display from Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Arnautovic looked on his way to Beijing after oddly making long waves to the crowd as if almost bidding farewell following whispers of a move away from the East London club.
Legit.ng earlier reported that Alex Iwobi's late finish was all Arsenal need to cruise to the FA Cup fourth round with teenager Joe Willock netting twice on Saturday, January 5, at Blackpool.
The encounter saw the 19 year old Willock finished with a header after Aaron Ramsey's free-kick hit the post before tapping another goal at the dot of 45 minutes.
The League One Blackpool outfit struggled to keep pace with Arsenal, whose arrival at the math venue was delayed by a protester.
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Source: Legit.ng
