Martinelli and Smith Rowe are on the scoresheet, as the Gunners cruise past a 10-man West Ham United and into the Premier League top four!
Arsenal gunned down West Ham United 2-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday evening, to move into the English Premier League (EPL) top four.
Gabriel Martinelli netted a great goal to put the Gunners into the lead early in the second half, while Alexandre Lacazette wasted a 70th-minute penalty that would have put the game to bed.
However, substitute Emile Smith Rowe doubled Arsenal’s advantage just before full-time to earn three points for Mikel Arteta’s outfit, overtake West Ham and move into the Champions League places.
The pre-match talk had been dominated by Arsenal’s decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the captaincy for another disciplinary breach. Just as in the comfortable win against Southampton at the weekend, the home side didn’t particularly miss him.
A fiery first half ended goalless, and West Ham’s Vladimír Coufal was booked early on for an elbow to the face of Kieran Tierney.
The North Londoners forced the issue toward the end of the first half with some fine passing in the final third and West Ham keeper, Łukasz Fabiański, was required to make vital saves to keep it 0-0 at half-time.
Martinelli’s goal came soon after the restart, when the Brazilian latched onto a Lacazette through ball, raced past his defender and beat Fabiański with a clinical finish to give Arsenal the lead.
Coufal brought down Lacazette just inside the area to pick up his second yellow and be sent off, but the French striker had his spot-kick saved by Fabiański and 10-man West Ham stayed in touch with the hosts.
The Hammers were understandably angry at referee Anthony Taylor’s decision, to show Coufal a second yellow card despite replays showing he had played the ball, before felling Lacazette.
Smith Rowe then beat Fabianski with a low drive to the near post from just outside the penalty area to send the home fans wild, as Arsenal continued their recent good form in England’s top flight.
The result leaves Arsenal on 29 points from 17 games, while David Moyes’ West Ham drop to fifth, one point behind the Gunners.
