West Ham are deflating after two successive 2-1 home defeats, but Arsenal did just enough to keep the pot boiling for a fourth-place finish.
1) For West Ham United, this season has been as much a question of identity as anything else. Other teams have taken it less than seriously and it might well be argued that they are paying a steep price for committing themselves, but their run to the semi-finals of the Europa League has given West Ham United something to coalesce round this season, and after their fractious move to The London Stadium, this has mattered.
But Arsenal at home after their defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in their Europa League semi-final first leg was always going to be a true test. With such a defeat as the Eintracht result, those aches and pains from what has already been a punishing season start to feel all the more pronounced; when you’re running on fumes, it’s best to be going downhill. West Ham had won just one of their previous five, but they remained just three points behind Manchester United for a place in next season’s Europa League, and with Wolves nipping at their heels – three points behind them but with a game in hand, despite their surprise turning over by Brighton – they needed to regain some momentum.
2) With Europe not a consideration, Arsenal arrived at The London Stadium as rested as they could realistically hope to be at this point of the season and fresh off the back of scoring seven goals in their previous two games against Chelsea and Manchester United. Coupled with Spurs’ no-shows in front of goal against Brighton and Brentford, they were back on the front foot in the increasingly undignified race for fourth place, but for all that, Spurs’ 3-1 win against Leicester earlier in the afternoon had served as a reminder that, for all the fatalism coming from up the road, that race isn’t quite over yet.
3) It therefore came as something of a surprise that the first 35 minutes of this match saw West Ham the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…