Three goals in nine second-half minutes gave Arsenal a 3-1 victory at West Ham, ending their nine-match winless streak.
After a slow start, West Ham took the lead as Angelo Ogbonna’s header deflected off Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ head and wrongfooted Bernd Leno (38).
Arsenal were distinctly sub-par for an hour, failing to register a shot on target until Gabriel Martinelli netted from 12 yards on his first Premier League start (60), before their second shot on target saw Nicolas Pepe curl a beauty past David Martin from just inside the box having cut in from the right (66).
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They hit their third in just nine minutes as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck on the volley unmarked from close range (69), and that’s how it stayed as Freddie Ljungberg won for the first time as interim head coach. Arsenal move up to ninth, while West Ham stay 16th, a point above the drop zone.
The majority of the first half at the London Stadium epitomized the two sides’ form: bereft of confidence and midfield quality.
Aubameyang sought to do a lot of Arsenal’s attacking by himself, doing well to get to the byline, only to see his lifted cross headed over by Mesut Ozil from eight yards, while at the other end Michail Antonio forced a good save from Bernd Leno at an angle.
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The sloppiness of the goal was befitting of the first-half action. Pablo Fornals’ right-wing cross met Ogbonna 12 yards out, who nodded onto Maitland-Niles’ own head, deflecting the ball into the far corner past Leno. Though VAR had a look to see if Ogbonna had in fact handled the ball home, replays were inconclusive.
Arsenal’s defending of Ogbonna’s effort was heavily criticised in the MNF studio at half-time, with Granit Xhaka’s attempts to put the West Ham man off described as “shocking” by Jamie Carragher.
It looked more likely that West Ham would score the second goal, coming forward at will in the early stages of the second half, but Arsenal scored three in nine minutes to flatten the hosts.
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First, Martinelli struck low into the bottom corner from 12 yards from a break after Sead Kolasinac’s fine centre from the left, before Pepe showed a rare glimpse of his £72m worth, cutting inside from the right to curl into the far corner from just inside the box.
Source:Â skysports.com