Petr Cech endured a nightmare Arsenal debut as Cheikhou Kouyate
and Mauro Zarate gave West Ham a 2-0 win to deal the Gunners a blow to their
Premier League title hopes on the opening weekend of the season.
The
Hammers recorded their first victory over Arsene Wenger’s side since April 2007
with a combative and counter-attacking display that goes a long way to
justifying manager Slaven Bilic’s decision to rest several first-team players
in midweek.
Bilic
had endured a degree of criticism following Thursday night’s Europa League exit
to Astra Giurgiu but he perhaps sprang an even bigger surprise here, making
Reece Oxford the seventh youngest player in Premier League history at 16 years
237 days with a starting berth in central midfield.
Mark
Noble and Angelo Ogbonna were booked inside the first ten minutes as the
Hammers flew into challenges to disrupt Arsenal’s rhythm. Arsenal were largely
restricted to threatening from set-pieces and shots from distance.
Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain, who started brightly on the right of midfield, volleyed
just over from the edge of the box, before Aaron Ramsey hit the crossbar with
an deflected volley from a similar distance.
Ramsey again fired wide as the home side continued to build
momentum but they were stopped in the tracks just before half time as Kouyate
gave West Ham the lead.
Dimitri Payet, who was lively
throughout on his League debut, swung over a 44th minute
free-kick which Cech raced out to meet but Kouyate got there first to head the
ball into an unguarded net.
It got worse after half-time for the 33-year-old. Zarate struck a
tame effort from the edge of the box but Cech shifted his bodyweight the wrong
way as the ball flew goalwards meaning he could not get down in time to save
it.
Jubilant
Hammers fans sang “Are you watching Allardyce?” as Wenger introduced Theo
Walcott and Alexis Sanchez to salvage the game but West Ham held on comfortably
to take all three points
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