Arsenal’s Premier League title dreams suffered a crushing blow as their unbeaten home run came to a screeching halt in a frustrating 1-0 defeat to London rivals West Ham United.
A resilient Hammers side, set up in a deep 5-3-2 formation, weathered relentless Arsenal pressure before delivering the decisive strike on the brink of halftime, courtesy of Jarrod Bowen’s clinical finish.
Mikel Arteta’s side, lacking a natural striker, struggled to find a way through West Ham’s well-drilled defense. Their task became even tougher when teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off late in the game for a second yellow card, leaving the hosts with 10 men in the dying stages.
Despite Arsenal’s desperate push for an equalizer deep into stoppage time, Graham Potter’s men held firm, securing a victory that could all but extinguish the Gunners’ title aspirations.
Now trailing Liverpool by eight points, Arteta’s men have little margin for error in the title race. Meanwhile, West Ham, still sitting 16th, drew level on points with Manchester United and avenged their humiliating defeats to Arsenal earlier in the season.
With the January transfer window failing to deliver the much-needed striker reinforcement, Arsenal’s lack of firepower up front has once again come back to haunt them—potentially sealing their fate in the title race.
