Mikel Arteta got a very welcome boost on Wednesday evening as his Arsenal side overcame top four rivals West Ham at The Emirates Stadium with a 2-0 win.
The first headline of the night came as the Gunners announced that Alexandre Lacazette would captain the home side, after it was confirmed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had been stripped of the club captaincy.
In a hardfought and physical encounter, neither side could find a breakthrough early on and it wasn’t until the second half that Gabriel Martinelli broke the deadlock.
Arsenal took the lead
Captain Lacazette thread through a perfectly-weighted pass into Martinelli‘s path after a neat turn and the forward finished into the bottom corner only three minutes into the second period.
David Moyes was celebrating his 600th match as a coach but had little to be happy about as Vladimir Coufal was then dismissed shortly after, picking up a second yellow card as he conceded a penalty for bringing down Lacazette inside the box.
It seemed that the Frenchman could do no wrong after a wonderful assist and donning the captain’s armband, but his penalty was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
Finishing off the Hammers
Arsenal were left clinging onto their lead until the very end, with West Ham increasingly growing into the game and looking good value for an equaliser.
That was until the 87th minute, when substitute Emile Smith Rowe added a second goal for Arsenal to give them a comfortable lead, teaming up with England teammate Bukayo Saka in the build-up.
The result means that Arteta has now won five consecutive games at The Emirates Stadium for the first time since his appointment, while it takes Arsenal’s unbeaten run to eight.
The three points also mean that they leapfrog their London rivals into the top four, remaining seven points behind Chelsea in third.
