Arsenal picked up their first win under new boss Unai Emery with a 3-1 victory over West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium in their Premier League encounter on Saturday afternoon.
Arsenal notoriously have the upper hand over the Hammers in recent years after picking up several big victories over the past couple of seasons.
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The Gunners were desperate to pick up their first points of the season under new manager Emery, after losses to Champions Manchester City and London rivals Chelsea.
West Ham have also struggled to get up and running under their new boss Manuel Pellegrini. The Hammers were thumped 4-0 by Liverpool, before a 2-1 home loss against Brighton.
From the start it was clear that West Ham was not going to sit back and was going to have a go at the home side.
The opening 20 minutes flew by with chances at either end in what was proving to be an extremely open game.
The Hammers took advantage of their good start as they took the lead with 25 minutes gone. Marko Arnautovic played a clever one-two with Fillipe Anderson on the edge of the Arsenal box, before unleashing a bullet strike into the bottom left-hand corner.
It did not take the Gunners long to hit back. Hector Bellerin made a marauding run down the right flank before drilling the ball across the face of goal. Nacho Monreal burst into the box to get on the end of the cross and fire the ball into the gaping goal. 1-1 with 30 minutes played at the Emirates.
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Despite further chances for both sides, neither could find the back of the net as the scores were level at the break.
The game remained open after the break with both Lucas Fabianski and Petr Cech called into action early in the half.
With the game hanging in the balance it was Emery’s men who grabbed the vital goal to take the lead. Aaron Ramsey’s clever header got substitute Alexander Lacazette in behind the West Ham defence. The French striker fired a volley cross into the danger area and the ball bounced off Hammers defender Issa Diop’s midriff and past Fabianski.
The home side continued to push forward in an attempt to kill the game off, while West Ham continued to threaten going forward.
As the game approached full time, Arsenal caught their opponents on the counter and Bellerin picked out Danny Welbeck who made no mistake with his finish, securing the points in injury time.
The Gunners picked up an important victory and three points to get the Emery era underway. It is, however, back to the drawing board for West ham and Pellegrini who are still searching for their first points of the season.
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Other Premier League results:
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Manchester City
AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Everton
Huddersfield Town 0-0 Cardiff City
Southampton 1-2 Leicester City
