West Ham United 3-3 Arsenal
What a thriller!
Six goals though will certainly have been enjoyed more by the neutral than by either team for which a Premier League point does little to help their respective causes.
In truth, this was a 90 minutes which perfectly illustrated the strengths and weaknesses of both West Ham and Arsenal.
On saying that, if any of you had studied the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds at half-time and staked your claim on an Arsenal comeback, congratulations – even if the home side actually scored five of the encounter’s six goals.
Highlights of the game
Premier League highlights were anticipated in this reunion of the manager and his former captain with interesting team news for both sides.
The hosts welcomed back Jesse Lingard, who was ineligible to face parent club Manchester United last time out, while Said Benrahma was also named in the starting line-up.
There were plenty of changes for Arsenal as boss Mikel Arteta replaced six players who started against Olympiakos in the Europa League on Thursday, although captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was dropped from the Gunners’ last league fixture for a breach of club protocol, kept his place.
West Ham showed little ambition last time out at Old Trafford but seemed determined to put that right from the outset.
The boost of having Lingard back in the ranks was clear. Such has been the Man United man’s form there has talk of making a deal permanent in the summer, although his current manager David Moyes is unsure if that is possible.
From the start, Lingard was lively and it took him just a quarter of an hour to break the deadlock.
Michail Antonio, a player who has also revelled in Lingard’s arrival, escaped down the left and cut the ball back to the edge of the penalty box which Lingard controlled before lashing beyond Bernd Leno into the roof of the net.
Two minutes later and one became two as Lingard took advantage of more hesitant defending and fed Jarrod Bowen whose shot from a difficult angle squirmed through the grasp of Bernd Leno.
When Tomas Soucek got his name on the scoresheet after 32 minutes, poking the ball in from Antonio’s goalbound header following a fine cross from Vladimir Coufal, the game looked up.
Eight minutes before the break and the visitors had a glimmer as Alexandre Lacazette fired towards goal and his shot took a deflection off Soucek.
The half-time reflections, however, were of a 45-minute display that had fully showcased West Ham’s strength and Arsenal’s weaknesses.
The opposite was to be true in the second period.
Within minutes of the restart, Issa Diop acrobatically hooked a Lacazette effort off the line and then, just after the hour, a cross from the impressive Calum Chambers was touched into his own net inadvertently by Craig Dawson.
You could sense an equaliser and after Antonio hit the post from a Said Benrahma cross – think Paul Gascoigne in Euro 96 – Arsenal equalised as Lacazette powered home a header from a Nicolas Pepe delivery.
A thrilling game, a thrilling comeback and probably a fair result – although it does little for either team!
Key statistics
This was the third Premier League game this season in which a team has led by three goals and failed to win (also West Brom 3-3 Chelsea and Tottenham 3-3 West Ham); the only other Premier League campaign that occurred was 2010-11.
West Ham are the first team to score two own goals in a single top-flight game since Swansea in January 2017 – which was also against Arsenal.
This was Lingard’s fifth goal against the Gunners – more than he’s scored against any other side.
Soucek is the first player to score both a goal and an own goal in the same home Premier League game for West Ham since Frank Lampard v Leicester at Upton Park in November 1998.
Lacazette has scored five goals in his past six league appearances versus West Ham, including in his last three.
Arsenal have 21 away points so far this term – one more than last season’s entire tally.
West Ham have earned eight league victories in 2021, second only to leaders Manchester City.
They have also won five of their past seven Premier League home matches, including the last three in a row.
The Hammers have won just three of the last 25 home league meetings with Arsenal.
They last won four consecutive top-flight home fixtures in May 2002, under the late Glenn Roeder.
Moyes has won just four of his 32 league fixtures against Arsenal, drawing nine and losing 19.
The Gunners have conceded at least once in each of their past eight league matches.
What’s next?
It’s the two-week international break now with both sides back in action over the Easter weekend.
West Ham travel to Wolves on Easter Monday (April 5), the day after Arsenal host Liverpool in the Premier League. The Gunners then welcome Slavia Prague to the Emirates Stadium in the first-leg of their Europa League quarter-final (April 8).
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