Arsenal vs West Ham LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight
Follow all the reaction from the Emirates Stadium after the Gunners saw off West Ham
Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe fired Arsenal to a 2-0 victory over West Ham and into the top four of the Premier League.
Brazilian forward Martinelli, profiting from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s enforced absence from the squad with a rare run in the Gunners starting line-up, tucked in his second goal of the season early in the second half.
And substitute Smith Rowe doubled the lead late on after Alexandre Lacazette had missed a penalty.
It was enough to inflict defeat on an increasingly weary-looking West Ham side, whose own charge for a Champions League spot has slowed to a crawl in recent weeks.
To add to their problems they were reduced to 10 men when Vladimir Coufal was sent off for bringing down Lacazette, who saw his subsequent penalty saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal vs West Ham: Recent results
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have hit a stumbling block after a run of eight Premier League fixtures without defeat. Since their 4-0 loss to Liverpool on 20th November they have won two and lost two of their four league matches. Last time out they comfortably defeated Southampton 3-0 at the Emirates and Mikel Arteta will be hoping for a repeat performance from his players tonight. If they win the Gunners will move ahead of West Ham and claim a spot in the top four.
West Ham have also lost a bit of their early momentum in recent weeks. Back-to-back defeats - to Wolves and Manchester City - were followed with a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton. they got back to winning ways with a great 3-2 victory over Chelsea at the start of December but last time out were held to a 0-0 draw against Burnley. David Moyes will be hoping to pick up all three points this evening against a top four rival and show just how far his team has come this season.
Arsenal vs West Ham: What are Premier League’s new Covid guidelines for fans going to matches?
The Premier League have issued new Covid guidance for fans to follow when attending top-flight matches.
This comes amid the new Omicron variant taking a hold in the UK with the government bringing in so-called plan B measures to tackle the virus.
Outbreaks have already affected league clubs with Manchester United’s match against Brentford off and Tottenham’s fixture with Rennes postponed as well as this evening’s Premier League game between Burnley and Watford.
What are Premier League’s new Covid guidelines for fans?
Covid has impacted Premier League clubs with outbreaks recently
Arsenal vs West Ham: No Aubameyang for Gunners
Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not being considered for selection for tonight’s match against West Ham after he was stripped of the captaincy by manager Mikel Arteta.
Bernd Leno and Sead Kolasinac are also unavailable for the Gunners but there’s good news for David Moyes’ West Ham as Aaron Cresswell is back in contention after a four game absence due to a lower back issue.
Arsenal vs West Ham latest live news
West Ham boss David Moyes admits he is perplexed at some of the criticism Mikel Arteta has endured during his two years in charge of Arsenal
Arteta, who played under Moyes at Everton won the FA Cup and Community Shield within months of taking the reins at the Emirates Stadium but presided over an underwhelming eighth-placed finish last season
They were rock-bottom of the Premier League after three games this term before an upturn in fortunes that has put them two points behind West Ham in fourth ahead of their showdown in north London on Wednesday evening.
Arteta is back under the microscope following his decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the Arsenal captaincy but while Moyes would not be drawn on the news, the Scot is incredulous at some of the barracking his former midfielder has had to contend with.
Moyes said: “It was incredible Mikel won a couple of trophies. I thought he started his career really well with an FA Cup and Charity Shield, not a bad start to your managerial career.
“He’s having to readjust, change things around, get it the way he wants it and he’s in that process. He has a good team at the moment, they’ve bought some good young players.
“I didn’t quite agree with a lot of the criticism that was about, about Arsenal.” Full report:
West Ham boss David Moyes perplexed by criticism of Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta
Arsenal manager Arteta played under Moyes at Everton.
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