Arsenal break unwanted Premier League record during bruising defeat to West Ham

Arsenal broke an unwanted Premier League record as they laboured to a 2-0 defeat against West Ham United.

On Thursday the Gunners missed the chance to leapfrog Liverpool and return to the Premier League summit, after they fell to a dismal defeat to West Ham.

West Ham's Tomas Soucek rifled home from close range after 13 minutes from Jarrod Bowen's cut-back from the byline - with VAR subsequently taking a look at whether the ball had gone out of play from the assist.

The lengthy VAR check resulted in the goal being given, with no clear angle available to the officials.

In the second half, Dinos Mavropanos, a former Arsenal centre-back, nodded in James Ward-Prowse’s corner to double West Ham’s lead.

The scoreline could have been even worse for Mikel Arteta’s men after Declan Rice conceded a penalty against his former side in injury time for a clumsy challenge on Emerson, but David Raya saved Said Benrahma's spot kick.

Arsenal also had several opportunities to score, with Bukayo Saka hitting the post and Gabriel Jesus squandering two big chances to reduce the deficit.

In fact, Arsenal ended the game with 30 shots despite failing to find the net.

And according to the BBC’s Match of the Day, against West Ham Arsenal became the first team in Premier League history to have had 77 touches in the opposition box without scoring.

After the game Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told Amazon Prime: "It's one of those nights. We had a lot of chances and did enough to score some goals, but in the box, we were not good enough. We take the good things and learn from the things we didn't do well.

"We created enough and had some big chances. We're together as a team. It's not about some players [not scoring]. We have to improve in front of the goal and it's down to the whole team to do that.

“I guess it was a close call [whether the ball was in play or out for the first goal]. Hopefully, they have made the right call there. Still, after that, we had enough chances to win the game."

Topics: Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, Premier League, West Ham United, Football

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.