In extremely underwhelming fashion, Arsenal crumbled on the first day of the season at the hands of the mighty West Ham. The east London side turned up, played in a defensively sound fashion, attacked the frail Arsenal defence with the talents of Dimitri Payet and Diafra Sakho, who were both full of running all day, while Aaron Cresswell provided a fantastic outlet on the left of midfield, and they were rewarded for their efforts.
Cheikhou Kouyate got his head to the ball ahead of the on-rushing Petr Cech, who was unable to get to the ball in time to punch it away, before a second half goal from Mauro Zarate caught the 33-year-old shotstopper out of position on his debut, unable to sort his feet out in time, before watching it fire in to the bottom corner.
Perhaps the most surprising feature of the game was the start of 16-year-old Reece Oxford, who slotted in to the Hammers midfield as if he’d been playing Premier League football for 10 years, marauding the midfield in a similar fashion to that of Patrick Vieira.
A poor showing from the Gunners, who will look to eradicate all worries away at Crystal Palace next weekend.
