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ARSENAL SURVIVED A huge scare after Leandro Trossard’s goal kept the Premier League title race firmly in their hands in a tense 1-0 win at West Ham.
Pep Guardiola’s rallying cry of ‘come on you Irons’ on Saturday seemed set to do the trick after Callum Wilson’s stoppage-time effort almost did Manchester City a huge favour.
But after an agonising VAR check the apparent equaliser was ruled out for a foul on Gunners goalkeeper David Raya.
Trossard had struck eight minutes from full-time to re-establish Arsenal’s five points lead and put them on the brink of a first title in 22 years.
Despite winning on their last two visits to the London Stadium by an aggregate score of 11-2, this looked like, and may well prove to be, Arsenal’s trickiest assignment of the three remaining.
Now, all that stands between them and the title is a visit from relegated Burnley and a trip to a Crystal Palace side who will be focused on their Conference League final date with Rayo Vallecano three days later.
For West Ham, the contrast could not be starker. The celebration police will not be required in east London this season.
Needing a win to climb out of the relegation zone, they will instead find themselves four points adrift of Tottenham – who will be uncharacteristically revelling in an Arsenal victory – with two matches left, if the north Londoners beat Leeds on Monday night.
The Hammers’ recent revival under Nuno Espirito Santo began too late and, following back-to-back defeats, is now fizzling out too early.
West Ham were almost caught out straight away by a corner when Trossard had one header parried by Mads Hermansen and saw a second come back off a post.
The hosts were creaking, yet they somehow escaped after Riccardo Calafiori flicked Declan Rice’s free-kick towards goal, with Konstantinos Mavropanos clearing off the line and El Hadji Malick Diouf and Taty Castellanos smuggling the loose ball away.
The Gunners lost Ben White to an injury, which could be a concern with the Champions League final less than three weeks away, and curiously Declan Rice went out to right-back with Martin Zubimendi sent on.
The tweaks briefly handed the initiative to West Ham in what, as Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville succinctly put it, was becoming ‘a dog of a match’.
Without his old midfield team-mate Rice running things, Tomas Soucek began snapping into tackles, and the hosts almost nicked the lead before half-time when Aaron Wan-Bissaka broke and crossed to Castellanos, whose diving header was superbly kept out by Raya.
Boss Mikel Arteta rectified matters at the break with former Hammers favourite Rice back in situ, Piero Hincapie on at right-back and Myles Lewis-Skelly moving to left-back.
Bukayo Saka skied a couple of long-range attempts but Arteta’s frustration was growing and he hauled off Martin Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze for Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz.
West Ham survived a penalty appeal after Pablo Felipe fell on the ball from another Rice free-kick and Viktor Gyokeres headed a presentable chance over.
Yet Odegaard had wrested control back for Arsenal and he created the winner, dancing into the area before laying the ball back for Trossard to drill home and put the Gunners one step closer to glory.
But they could only truly celebrate after sub Wilson drilled through a sea of bodies after Raya had flapped at a corner, only for ref Chris Kavanagh to rule Pablo had impeded the Gunners keeper.
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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