Arsenal switched on the style to dismantle West Ham at the London Stadium in a 5-2 victory that they will hope can reignite their Premier League title hopes.
A Gabriel header from a corner after 10 minutes started a sequence of seven goals in the first half. Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz also scored from open play with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka adding two more goals from the penalty spot.
An Aaron Wan-Bissaka goal and a wonderful free kick from Emerson reduced the arrears for the home side, but Arsenal cruised to the win in the second half and sit six points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, who face Manchester City tomorrow.
Here Jordan Campbell breaks down the key parts of the Arsenal win.
Gabriel’s corner kickstarts goal-fest
In the opening 10 minutes, it did not look like a game destined to explode into a goal fest as West Ham tried to restrict Arsenal’s possession.
But that is why Arsenal’s prowess at set pieces can be so disarming.
A Bukayo Saka delivery was glanced into the net by Gabriel, who scored his fourth of the season. It opened the floodgates.
It was the 20th time Arsenal have scored the first goal of the game from a corner since Nicolas Jover was appointed as set-piece coach in July 2021. It means 24 per cent of their 83 league victories in that period have started this way.
7 – West Ham v Arsenal is only the fourth Premier League game to see seven goals in the first half alone, after Blackburn v Leeds in September 1997, Bradford v Derby in April 2000, and Reading v Man Utd in December 2012. Crazy. pic.twitter.com/Zji8BguDu6
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 30, 2024
The Brazilian was a doubt after coming off in the 5-1 Champions League win over Sporting CP in midweek — in which he scored another header from a corner — but he recovered to open the scoring and win the penalty that saw Arsenal make it 5-2 after being wiped out by Lukasz Fabianski.
He is not only the main target at corners, he is the person the takers confide in before delivering and the chief organiser in the penalty area.
Gabriel’s dominance in both boxes is so important to Mikel Arteta’s side. He and centre-back partner William Saliba have played 96 league games together in the last three seasons, establishing themselves as one of the most dominant duos in European football.
Saliba usually receives more attention as he is smoother on the ball, but the Frenchman’s first century of appearances, a landmark he reached on Tuesday, has been made so much easier by having Gabriel as the aggressor next to him, which is why his substitution at half-time will be a worry — along with Riccardo Calafiori’s removal when he was clutching his groin.
Saka sets sights on assist record
It seems that with every game Saka plays, another record appears on the horizon.
The next one? The most assists in a single Premier League season. The mark has stood since Thierry Henry recorded 20 in 2002-03. Kevin De Bruyne equalled it in 2019-20 and Saka is already at the halfway mark after just 13 games (just over a third of the season).
Cesc Fabregas in 2014-15 (12), Mesut Ozil in 2015-16 (12) and Harry Kane in 2020-21 (11) are the only other players to reach double figures in fewer games.
10 – Bukayo Saka has 10 assists in Arsenal’s 13 Premier League games this term; only Cesc Fàbregas in 2014-15 (12), Mesut Özil in 2015-16 (12), & Harry Kane in 2020-21 (11) have reached 10 assists in fewer of a team’s games from the start of a season in the competition. Platter. pic.twitter.com/9c6T2hvLK6
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 30, 2024
Saka has four goals to his name too. He converted a penalty at the London Stadium but handed the first spot kick over to his captain, Odegaard, despite his slaloming run drawing the foul from Lucas Paqueta.
It was Saka’s inch-perfect corner delivery that set up Gabriel for the opener and he caused so many more problems for West Ham.
His assists tally is often queried given the percentage that come from set pieces, but his deliveries have become so consistently pinpoint that it is difficult to dilute their credibility. He is not hopefully lobbing a cross into a general area; he is whipping the ball in with a precise velocity and trajectory that lands on a particular forehead (usually that of Gabriel).
The assists had dried up for a few weeks after he added one in each of the first five games of the season, but Odegaard’s return has him back to his best. The combination for his assist to Leandro Trossard was sublime as he played a give-and-go before squaring it to the Belgian.
Many winger may have chosen to shoot themselves but Saka has a record to chase.
Question three?
Just as many West Ham fans had started streaming out of the stadium, Arsenal gave them a reason to stick around.
Mikel Arteta’s side were 4-0 up inside 36 minutes and some fans were eyeing up the all-time record for the biggest margin of victory. Four minutes later it was somehow 4-2 and the home crowd sensed anxiety.
Bukayo Saka’s penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time helped quell the growing sense that a sensational comeback might be on the cards, but for 10 minutes there was a complete transformation in the mood and the momentum of the game.
Arsenal had completely outplayed the home side and looked capable of scoring as many as they liked.
Yet one moment in which Trossard and Calafiori switched off at the back post led to one goal back, and then a brilliant Emerson free kick created a little bit of panic.
Mikel Arteta came out of his technical to call for calm, but you could even see the perplexed look on his face.
It was similar to how Arsenal’s win over Sporting CP unfolded in midweek: complete dominance followed by a brief drop in level that saw the opposition come alive after looking utterly beaten.
Arteta was pleased his team were able to re-establish their control of the game in Portugal, but he made an interesting point about his players’ tendency to let the game drift when ahead.
“You cannot speculate,” he said. “We had a period after 39, 40 minutes where we did that and I had to stop it because that’s the tendency that the team wants to do, to control it. We’re not very good at that.
“Unfortunately, they scored very early in the second half and that created some momentum. We dealt with it really well.”
Arsenal again dealt with the setback but it was a warning that when this far ahead, it should be completely stress-free.
What did Mikel Arteta say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Arsenal?
Wednesday, December 4: Manchester United (H), Premier League, 8.15pm GMT, 3.15pm ET
Recommended reading
- How a strange fixture quirk could help Arsenal’s title prospects this season
- Arsenal Transfer DealSheet: What to expect in 2025’s two windows
- This is Martin Odegaard’s team now. Can he kick on and take Arsenal with him?
- Champions League projections: Each club’s probability of making the knockout phase
(Top photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
