At a Glance:
- Arsenal beat West Ham United 1-0 at the London Stadium on Sunday.
- The match has been overshadowed by the late VAR controversy surrounding the Hammers’ disallowed goal.
- Jakub Kiwior has left Arsenal permanently for Porto.
Arsenal moved one step closer to ending their 22-year wait for a Premier League title by beating West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday evening.
Leandro Trossard slotted home after exceptional work from Martin Odegaard in the 83rd minute to save the Gunners from a devastating title-race blow. The game ended in a controversial fashion, when the VAR and referee Chris Kavanagh decided to rule out a late West Ham equaliser.
Regardless of this drama, Arsenal will be delighted to have emerged from East London victorious, as they now sit five points clear of Manchester City at the summit of the English top flight, knowing two wins in their remaining two matches will see them claim the title.
With that said, here is the latest Arsenal news today, including reactions to this tense Premier League encounter and an update on the future of Jakub Kiwior.
Reaction to West Ham vs Arsenal
If Arsenal do go on to win the Premier League title, this game at the London Stadium will go down in Gunners folklore. While the late drama made it an uncomfortable watch for Arsenal supporters, they’ll ultimately look back at it with fond memories due to the euphoria they must’ve felt at full-time.
Odegaard delivered a stunning cameo performance, dragging the Gunners up the pitch on multiple occasions and providing the crucial assist for Trossard’s goal. The Norwegian made some of his critics eat their words with this display.
Meanwhile, Micah Richards was critical of Mikel Arteta’s decision to move Declan Rice to right-back for the second half of the first 45 minutes. The midfielder being deployed in this role derailed Arsenal’s control, and the Spaniard promptly fixed this at the break.
“But then putting Declan Rice right-back, where he’s not going to influence the game,” Richards said on the Rest is Football podcast.
“And I know we’re talking about inverted full-back, so Lewis-Skelly does it a lot, doesn’t he? But I just thought it was a strange decision.
“But then he changed it at half-time, so he probably needs a little bit of praise for that.”
Elsewhere, David Raya has earned praise for his performance. The goalkeeper made a crucial save at 0-0, denying Mateus Fernandes from point-blank range, capping off what was another excellent showing from the Spanish shot-stopper.
VAR controversy overshadows Arsenal’s win
While Arsenal fans celebrated their victory in East London, the rest of the football world lamented VAR’s decision to disallow Callum Wilson’s late equaliser. The Gunners are subsequently not garnering the praise they arguably deserve for coming away with three points, with the narrative instead centred around this controversy.
Gary Lineker has revealed that he understands why West Ham would be angry about the decision.
“If I were a West Ham fan or indeed a Manchester City fan, I think I’d be a little bit angry tonight because there was a lot of fouling going on in that corner,” Lineker said on the Rest is Football podcast.
“There was a lot of grappling by Arsenal players on the West Ham attackers.”
While Lineker’s response was somewhat measured and reasonable, many rival supporters, pundits and journalists took much more radical stances. Some went as far as suggesting that this decision means Arsenal should have an asterisk next to their name if they should win the title, while others went down the predictable conspiracy theory route of there being a PGMOL push for Arteta’s team to emerge victorious.
Jakub Kiwior joins Porto permanently
Away from Sunday’s drama, the first major piece of transfer news of the summer emerged on Monday when Arsenal confirmed that Jakub Kiwior’s move to Porto has been made permanent.
Kiwior joined the Portuguese giants on a season-long loan last summer. The deal included an option to buy, which has now been triggered by Porto after they wrapped up the Primeira Liga title last week.
The Pole signs for the storied European club in a deal that should total around £19 million with add-ons. This could be the first of a plethora of outgoing deals at Arsenal this summer.
