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West Ham 2 Arsenal 5: Gabriel – King of corners, Saka’s record to chase, a warning sign

Posted on by Taylor Reeves
West Ham 2 Arsenal 5: Gabriel – King of corners, Saka’s record to chase, a warning sign

Arsenal changed style to beat West Ham at the London Stadium with a 5-2 win that they hope can reignite their Premier League title hopes.

A header from Gabriel from a corner after 10 minutes started a run of seven goals in the first half. Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz also scored goals from play, while Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka scored two more goals from penalties.

A goal from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and a wonderful free-kick from Emerson reduced the home side’s deficit, but Arsenal cruised to victory in the second half and are six points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, who face Manchester City tomorrow.

Here, Jordan Campbell breaks down the key parts of Arsenal’s win.

Gabriel’s corner kick triggers the goal

In the first ten minutes it didn’t look like the game was going to break out into a goalfest as West Ham tried to limit Arsenal’s possession.

But that’s precisely why Arsenal’s strength from set pieces can be so disarming.

A shot from Bukayo Saka was sent into the net by Gabriel, who scored his fourth goal of the season. It opened the floodgates.

It was the 20th time Arsenal have scored their first goal of the game from a corner since Nicolas Jover was appointed set-piece coach in July 2021. That means 24 percent of his 83 league wins during that period started this way.

The Brazilian was questionable after being substituted in the 5-1 Champions League win over Sporting CP in midweek – in which he scored another header from a corner – but he recovered to score the opener and win it Penalty that gave Arsenal the final score of 5-0. 2 after being obliterated by Lukasz Fabianski.

Not only is he the main target for corners, he is also the person the takers trust before the attack and the main organizer in the penalty area.

Gabriel’s dominance in both penalty areas is so important for Mikel Arteta’s side. He and centre-back partner William Saliba have played 96 league games together over the last three seasons, establishing themselves as one of the most dominant duos in European football.

Saliba normally receives more attention as he is more supple on the ball, but the Frenchman’s first hundred appearances, a milestone he reached on Tuesday, were made much easier with Gabriel as an attacker alongside him, which is why he is at half-time Be a concern – along with the exit of Riccardo Calafiori as he clutched his groin.

Saka has his sights set on the assist record

It seems that with every game Saka plays, a new record appears on the horizon.

The next? Most assists in a single Premier League season. The mark has stood since Thierry Henry recorded 20 points in the 2002/2003 season. Kevin De Bruyne achieved the same figure in 2019/20 and Saka is already at the halfway mark after just 13 games (just over a third of the season).

Cesc Fabregas in the 2014-15 season (12), Mesut Özil in the 2015-16 season (12) and Harry Kane in the 2020-21 season (11) are the only other players to reach double figures in fewer games.

Saka also scored four goals. He converted a penalty at the London Stadium, but gave the first penalty to his captain Odegaard, although his slalom run resulted in Lucas Paqueta’s foul.

It was Saka’s perfect corner that set up Gabriel for the opener and caused many more problems for West Ham.

His assists record is often questioned given the percentage he makes from set pieces, but his performances are so consistently accurate that it’s difficult to diminish their credibility. He’s not hoping to throw a cross into a general area; He launches the ball in at a precise speed and trajectory so that it lands on a specific forehead (usually Gabriel’s).

After providing one in each of the first five games of the season, the assists had been lacking for a few weeks, but Odegaard’s return has him back to his best. The combination for his assist to Leandro Trossard was great as he played a give and go before equalizing for the Belgian.

Many wingers may have chosen to shoot themselves, but Saka has a record worth chasing.

A warning sign

Just when many West Ham fans had started to leave the stadium, Arsenal gave them a reason to stick around.

Mikel Arteta’s side were 4-0 up within 36 minutes and some fans were looking for an all-time record and biggest margin of victory. Four minutes later it was 4-2 and the home crowd could feel how nervous they were.

Bukayo Saka’s penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time helped quell the growing feeling that a sensational comeback might be possible, but for ten minutes the mood and momentum of the game completely changed.

Arsenal had completely outplayed the home side and looked capable of scoring as many goals as they wanted.

But a moment when Trossard and Calafiori alternated at the back post resulted in a goal deficit, and then a brilliant free-kick from Emerson caused a bit of panic.


Emerson scores from a free kick (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta finished his technique drill and called for calm, but you could even see the confused look on his face.

It was similar to Arsenal’s win over Sporting CP in midweek: complete dominance, followed by a brief dip in performance that brought the opposition back to life after complete defeat.

Arteta was pleased that his team was able to regain control of the game in Portugal, but also made an interesting point about his players’ tendency to leave the game in front.

“You can’t speculate,” he said. “We had a phase after 39, 40 minutes where we were doing that and I had to stop because that’s the tendency the team wants to have, which is to control it. “We’re not very good at that.

“Unfortunately they scored very early in the second half and that created some momentum. We handled it really well.”

Arsenal had to deal with the setback again, but it was a warning that when they were so far ahead, it should be a completely stress-free affair.

What did Mikel Arteta say?

Speaking to BBC’s Match of the Day, Arteta said: “We did it crazy. We played so well at the start of the game. We scored three early goals and then straight after kick-off they scored a goal and then another – then it started. We have to manage the game – we did that really well. The last two games were difficult and scoring goals is a big challenge.”

In the post-match press conference, Arteta said of Gabriel’s withdrawal: “It was related to the previous injury he sustained in Lisbon. Obviously it was great that he was part of this (today’s game), but given this result and still the problems he is feeling, we decided to take him out of the game.”

He also commented on Calafiori’s substitution, saying: “Well, he’s had problems in the last few weeks. Apparently he had a really bad knee injury. He’s doing really well, but we have to manage his minutes and today we have to do the same.”

What’s next for Arsenal?

Wednesday, December 4th: Manchester United (H), Premier League, 8:15 p.m. GMT, 3:15 p.m. ET

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(Top photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

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