By Emmanuel Ebimoh
A late goal from substitute Eddie Nketiah was enough to seal three points for the Gunners in a cagey encounter between Arsenal and West Ham at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal were the first to threaten for a goal and they duly got the reward for their pressure in the 25th minute when Alexander Lacazette latched onto a pin-point cross from Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to put the Gunners ahead with a delicious header.
West Ham looked more defensive in the game with their five-man defence wall but they were still able to threaten on the attack. And just before the half-time break, they found their equalizer with a brilliantly worked move from deep in their own half against the run of play. Tomas Soucek drove through the middle and sent a pass wide to Ryan Fredericks who squared it to Michail Antonio to score from close range. It was the 9th goal for the striker since the resumption of last season in June after the suspension due to the global pandemic, making him joint top scorer with Raheem Sterling.
After some missed chances by both sides in the 2nd half, Arsenal finally found the breakthrough again in the late minutes of the game from a scintillating team move. Eddie Nketiah came on in the 77th to replace Alex Lacazette, and it proved to be a super sub for Arsenal. Bukayo Saka played a lovely pass through to Dani Ceballos who squared it to Nketiah, and the substitute coolly rolled the ball into an empty net to make it 2-1 for Arsenal and game over! The Gunners now have two wins from two games in the new campaign.
In the other games played earlier in the day, Manchester United were stunned to a 1-3 defeat at home to Crystal Palace. One goal from Andy Townsend and a brace from Wilfred Zaha were enough to send United packing with their first loss of the season in their very first game. Donny Van de Beek’s goal for United in the 80th minute was a little too late as Crystal Palace made it two wins from two games so far.
Everton were also too hot for WestBrom as they walloped the Baggies 5-2, and Leeds United came out victorious in their 4-3 thriller against Fulham.
