13’
West Ham United denied London rivals Arsenal a return to the top of the table as they inflicted on the Gunners a first home defeat of the season, winning 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.
Tomas Soucek put the Hammers ahead in the first half and Konstantinos Mavropanos doubled the lead10 minutes after the break, heading in against his former club.
Arsenal were top at Christmas but this defeat leaves them two points behind leaders Liverpool. Meanwhile, West Ham climb to sixth, four points outside the top four.
How the match unfolded
Arsenal began sharply, exerting plenty of pressure but, against the run of play, West Ham took the lead on 13 minutes.
Jarrod Bowen pulled the ball back from the byline to Soucek, who finished at close range, and a VAR review could find no conclusive evidence that the ball had gone out of play before Bowen’s pass.
West Ham were dealt a blow just after the half-hour mark when playmaker Lucas Paqueta, who had appeared to be injured during the warm-up, was eventually forced off and replaced by Said Benrahma.
The Gunners almost equalised five minutes before the break, but Bukayo Saka’s shot hit a post and was scrambled clear by West Ham’s defence.
Early in the second half Declan Rice, facing his former side, took a shot from distance which flew narrowly over the crossbar.
But moments later West Ham doubled their advantage through former Arsenal defender Mavropanos, who rose above Gabriel to power in a header via the crossbar from a James Ward-Prowse corner.
Gabriel Jesus could have done better with a couple of headers of his own, directing the first straight at Alphonse Areola and then sending the second over the bar, and that was the closest Arsenal came to a comeback.
Arsenal had 77 touches in the opposition box in this match, the most on record (since 2008/09) in a single Premier League fixture for a team who failed to score.
West Ham saw out the closing stages in relative comfort, and Benrahma had a big chance to make it 3-0 in stoppage time from the penalty spot, awarded for a foul by Rice on Emerson Palmieri, but his effort was saved by David Raya.
Arsenal report | West Ham report
Match officials
Referee: Michael Oliver. Assistants: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook. Fourth official: Rob Jones. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin.
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