When the fixture list was drawn ahead of the upcoming season, things were not kind to Arsenal.
The Gunners faced trips to Old Trafford, Anfield and St James’ Park. They also faced Manchester City at home.
Thus, after seven weeks of action, for Arsenal to be top of the league, and top having conceded just once from open play, is seriously impressive.
While Mikel Arteta’s men now begin to motor, their closest rivals, Liverpool, falter. Last weekend, had the north Londoners lost and Arne Slot’s side secured victory, the gap between the two would have been eight points.
Instead, Arsenal lead by one after consecutive defeats for the Merseysiders. It’s funny how quickly football can change. Who knows just how important this weekend’s action will be come next May, though.
How Arsenal defeated West Ham
While on paper this clash looked like a straightforward victory for Arsenal, it has been a bogey fixture of late.
Indeed, as Thierry Henry reminded Bukayo Saka prior to Saturday afternoon’s fixture, the Hammers have won on their last two visits to the Emirates Stadium.
Well, with Graham Potter recently sacked and Nuno Santo now at the helm, a new manager bounce threatened a third straight victory for the Irons.
Fortunately for those of a red and white persuasion, that did not happen. In fact, Arsenal didn’t really have to work too hard for victory at all.
Indeed, Nuno’s men only had four shots throughout the entire game. To put that into context, the Gunners managed 21.
Much of their win is owed to that man Saka who, despite an injury-hit start to the campaign, is growing into the season nicely now.
Saka scored in the Champions League in midweek and followed that up by netting from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 after Jurrien Timber had been fouled.
That spot kick capped off an electric display from the winger who walked away at the end of the game with an expected assists (xA) tally of 1.11. To sum up how good that is, until Saturday, no player in the Premier League this season had accumulated more than 0.75 Expected assists (xA) in a single match.
The other hero of the day was Declan Rice, who once again found the net against his former employers.
The midfielder started the game in a deeper role, behind Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze, but following Odegaard’s injury was pushed further forward again and his goal came as a result of a late dart into the penalty area.
It wasn’t the most free-flowing of displays from Arsenal but they got the job done and kept yet another clean sheet. Weaknesses are certainly few and far between; however, their 2-0 win wasn’t without one big negative.
The biggest negative from Arsenal's 2-0 win over West Ham
While another game went by without Viktor Gyokeres finding the back of the net, there was a bigger worry come full-time for Arteta.
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Indeed, after just half an hour, Odegaard walked from the field with yet another injury. For the Norwegian, he has really been through the wringer over the last year and more specifically, this season.
To sum up the captain’s woes, on Saturday, he became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before half-time in three consecutive league starts. It’s a flabbergasting statistic.
It’s a rather dismal fact and one that is clearly a source of huge frustration for the midfielder. Last season, it was an ankle problem that disrupted his campaign and led to some below-par performances.
In the first few weeks of this season, it was his shoulder that was causing discomfort. He returned to the starting XI in midweek against Olympiacos and had a stunning hat-trick, winning the Man of the Match award.
Match rating
8.5
Assists
1
Key passes
4
Shots
4
Dribbles success
100%
Duels won
5/9
Odegaard was instrumental in the victory, providing the assist for Saka’s strike and supplying the pre-assist for Gabriel Martinelli’s opener. Both passes were exceptional, but the first was a timely reminder of just how good the skipper is when fit and firing.
So, to get him back in a Premier League starting lineup on Saturday meant a lot. Sadly, it was robbed of him after just half an hour in heartbreaking scenes.
This time it was a knee problem, and it looks rather more significant on this occasion. Speaking to the press after the game, Arteta confirmed that his star playmaker had left the Emirates with his knee in a brace.
While this isn’t just frustrating for the player, it’s equally frustrating for the club. Once one of the finest wonderkids in the land, Odegaard has worked hard to get to where he is now.
Ignored and shunned by Real Madrid, the Norway international has found a home for himself in London, and he’s been one of the star players for a while now.
Cast your minds back to 2022/23 and you may well recall how he ended the term with 15 Premier League goals. No midfielder scored more in England’s top-flight that season.
Yet, he just cannot stay fit now and ended last campaign with just three league goals to show for his efforts.
Odegaard is yet to find the net this term and is plagued by injuries again. Might we have another Jack Wilshere on our hands here? The club will hope not, but parallels are almost uncanny.
Two of the most exciting wonderkids to have graced the game in the last two decades, they’re both left-footed, they both possess the same level of vision and sadly, Odegaard is quickly becoming as injury-prone as Wilshere.
He’s not there yet but if the 26-year-old is to live up to his enormous potential, he will need to find a way of stringing a run of games together.
As The Standard’s Simon Collings noted on Saturday, Odegaard has been “ridiculously unlucky” of late but to put things more bluntly, as one prominent fan noted, he looks like “he’s made of paper”. That was a phrase that sadly became synonymous with Wilshere.
While the Norwegian’s fitness up until the last year has not been too troubling, he is now in dangerous territory. The positive for Arteta is that he has a phenomenal replacement in Eze, but the negative is that he looks set to be without his captain again.
