Despite Liverpool dropping points in midweek, Arsenal lacked energy early on in what was a poor first-half performance. Their best chance fell to Riccardo Calafiori who had their only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes, but struck straight into a grateful Alphonse Areola’s arms from the edge of the box. For West Ham, Tomáš Souček flashed a couple of headers wide while Jarrod Bowen also skewed Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cut-back just past the post.
The same two players then combined for the Hammers’ opener just before HT, as Wan-Bissaka swung a lovely cross in which Bowen met with a diving header from close range to stun the Emirates. The Englishman almost doubled his tally a few minutes into the second half too, almost connecting with a dangerous ball flashed across goal. Mikel Arteta was inclined to make early changes and they seemed to liven them out a little, as Leandro Trossard’s reverse effort was well-saved by Areola’s outstretched leg.
However, Arsenal’s hopes of turning the game around were dealt a killer blow on the 70-minute mark, as substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose red card against Wolves was overturned a few weeks back, was shown his marching orders again. The youngster naively brought down Mohammed Kudus on the half-way line as the last man, and a yellow was turned into a red after a VAR review.
Even with the numerical disadvantage, Arsenal kept pushing, but ultimately did not show enough quality. Graham Potter’s men deservedly picked up just a second win in eight away matches, and while Arsenal’s gap behind Liverpool remains at eight points, it would extend to a surely unassailable 11 if Liverpool are victorious at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow afternoon.