West Ham picked up another valuable point in their battle to beat the drop, frustrating a toothless Arsenal in a tight goalless draw at the London Stadium
Wed 13 Dec 2017 17.00 EST
First published on Wed 13 Dec 2017 13.30 ESTLive feed
West Ham will surely look back on this as a valuable point against one of the Premier League’s best sides, although they’ll think that Javier Hernandez should have won it for them at the end. He hit the underside of the bar, though, and a draw was a fair result. West Ham have kept clean sheets against Chelsea and Arsenal in the space of four days and picked up four points in the process. They stay in the bottom three, below Crystal Palace and West Brom on goal difference, but you can’t deny that Moyes is making progress. As for Arsenal, they’ve dropped more points on the road and drop to seventh, a point below Tottenham, Liverpool and Burnley. They had a lot of possession and played some decent stuff at times, but they were largely disappointing. They lacked ideas in the final third, failing to summon enough intensity or incisiveness, and didn’t create enough chances. Alex Iwobi hit a post and Mesut Ozil missed a good chance, but West Ham can point to Hernandez’s shot against the bar, Marko Arnautovic’s early disallowed goal and a lot of stout defending. Thanks for reading. Bye.
Full-time: West Ham 0-0 Arsenal
Mesut Ozil can’t get the free-kick over the wall and that’s it!
90 min+3: A loose touch from Zabaleta gives Welbeck a sniff. Reid dives in to bring him down around 25 yards out. Reid’s booked and Arsenal have one final chance. Reid will miss Saturday’s game at Stoke.
90 min: Incredible! Koscileny plays a ludicrous pass across the face of his own area from the right, gifting the ball straight to Hernandez. He slips, but the ball runs to Noble. He gathers his thoughts before coaxing a pass through to Hernandez, who crashes a shot over Cech and against the underside of the bar! The ball bounces down and on the wrong side of the line from West Ham’s perspective! No goal! But it should have been! Hernandez should have won it! There will be two added minutes and West Ham absurdly think they can win this!
89 min: Cech punches Cresswell’s corner away.
88 min: Arnautovic dances past a couple of tackles on the right and shows good persistence to win a corner. Surely not?
86 min: Ozil threads a pass inside Arnautovic, but it’s too heavy for Maitland-Niles.
85 min: Wilshere’s shot from 20 yards is blocked. Arsenal continue to pass. They still can’t pick the killer ball.
83 min: Arsenal make another change, Alexandre Lacazette replacing Alexis Sanchez.
82 min: Masuaku defends brilliantly against Welbeck on the right, just like Ogbonna did a minute ago. West Ham make their first change, Javier Hernandez replacing Michail Antonio.
80 min: West Ham’s 9-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1 formation has left Arnautovic a bit isolated.
78 min: Javier Hernandez is going to come on in a minute. Arsenal’s pressure is relentless. They still believe they’ll create an opening.
77 min: West Ham look absolutely knackered.
75 min: This has been a bit like one of Arsenal’s Europa League games.
73 min: Noble clips Wilshere’s heels 30 yards from goal. Sanchez whips it towards the left corner, but Adrian dives to his left to push it away. Arsenal will keep pushing, though.
71 min: Danny Welbeck replaces Alex Iwobi.
70 min: Maitland-Niles pops up on the left. The West Ham arms go up, but the flag stays down and the left-back crosses to the far post. Giroud heads down for Wilshere, who skies his volley! What a chance!
66 min: Noble bursts forward and scoops a pass to Arnautovic, who cleverly heads it back to him. He’s got a sight of goal, but the ball won’t come down in time and it’s whipped off his toes at the crucial moment. Zabaleta picks up possession on the right. His deflected cross tempts Cech off his line and the Arsenal goalkeeper bumps into one of his own players, flapping the ball at the feet of Arnautovic. The goal’s gaping! However Jon Moss has spotted a push on Koscielny and blows his whistle. Not that it really matters - Arnautovic scuffed his effort and the ball was cleared off the line by Monreal.
65 min: Noble muscles Ozil off the ball, looks up, sees no one and decides to play it back to Adrian, who has to scamper out of his box to beat Ozil to it.
62 min: West Ham have weathered the storm a little bit in the last few minutes. When will Arsenal introduce Lacazette?
60 min: West Ham finally attack. However Arnautovic can’t do much with Antonio’s cross.
58 min: There’s no quality to West Ham’s play at the moment. Jack Wilshere is pulling so many strings for Arsenal at the moment. They’ll do well not to score here.
56 min: Sanchez’s shot from the left is blocked and the ball breaks to Ozil. The German has space in the area and a big gap to aim for, but he chests the ball down and shoots a few yards wide of the far post!
55 min: Sanchez turns a beautiful reverse pass through to Ozil. Giroud is unmarked in the middle. But Ozil can’t find him and the ball is hoofed away before it reaches Iwobi.
53 min: Maitland-Niles whips in another cross from the right and this time Giroud gets his head to the ball. It hits a West Ham defender, though, and goes wide for a corner. West Ham are under a lot of pressure.
51 min: Arsenal aren’t letting West Ham have a kick. The ball’s being moved around at dizzying speed. Sanchez’s cutback is half cleared. Xhaka tries to place one into the top corner from 25 yards, but his rising sidefooter is held by Adrian.
49 min: Arsenal are trying to quicken the pace. They’re playing with more intensity and the driving rain is making the pitch slicker. Sanchez finds Bellerin, who drags a shot wide from 25 yards.
47 min: Wilshere breaks up a West Ham attack, cutting out Arnautovic’s pass, and Arsenal counter. Sanchez suddenly has Reid isolated. Trouble. Yet Sanchez decides not to take the defender on, instead choosing to slip a pass through to Giroud, who’s stopped by Ogbonna.
46 min: West Ham get the second half underway and immediately attack. Noble chests a ball through to Arnautovic, who hooks an awkward volley on to the roof of the net.
Half-time: West Ham 0-0 Arsenal
Little has occurred. Marko Arnautovic has had a goal disallowed, Alex Iwobi has hit the post and that’s it.
44 min: This is a drab game.
41 min: Lanzini’s booked for cynically stopping Wilshere from starting a counterattack.
39 min: Arsenal fling a cross into the middle from the left. Giroud goes for an overhead kick and boots the ball into Cresswell’s head. Ouch. Play is stopped so a groggy Cresswell can receive some treatment.
37 min: Cresswell’s free-kick is deep and Cech paws it out for a throw on the opposite flank.
36 min: Noble finds space deep on the right. He tries to outpace Maitland-Niles. Nope. He hangs on to the ball, though, and eventually wins a free-kick.
34 min: Maitland-Niles curls another cross into the area from the left, but it’s too high for Giroud again and Adrian watches it bounce past the post.