Result: Arsenal 1-0 West Ham United
Date: 07 March 2020
Venue: Emirates Stadium
The Video Assistant Referee came to Arsenal's rescue on Saturday evening as the Gunners defeated West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta handed a league debut to defender Pablo Mari as Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to the attack after missing the FA Cup win over Portsmouth on Monday.
The Gunners were nearly behind after a minute when West Ham's January signing Bowen saw his long-range strike tipped onto the crossbar by German goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Arsenal had to wait until the 21st minute for a clear opening at goal as Aubameyang lifted the ball into the six-yard box and found Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who sent his header crashing onto the crossbar.
While the hosts had most of the possession in the first half, it was West Ham who have looked the liveliest as Michail Antonio squandered a glorious from three-yards out just before the halftime break.
It was more of the same in the second half, although the Gunners went close eight minutes after resumption after Eddie Nketiah was denied by the legs of Lukasz Fabianksi while Sebastian Haller was denied by Leno minutes later at the other end.
Arteta had seen enough after that and withdrew Nketia for Alexandre Lacazette, who only had six league goals in 19 appearances heading into the encounter.
The Gunners thought they had taken the lead on 78 minutes when Lacazette volleyed home Mesut Ozil's unselfish strike from six-yards out until the offside flag was raised, however the VAR overturned the decision and awarded the goal.
The Hammers did push for a late equaliser but Arteta's men did well to hold out until the final whistle to get their European aspirations back on track.
