04:47 PM
Sunday 01 May 2022
Books – Muhammad Hammam:
Arsenal scored a valuable victory away from home at the expense of its arch-rival West Ham, 2-1, in a meeting held at the “Olympic” stadium in London, in the framework of the 35th round of the English Premier League.
The match witnessed the participation of Mohamed Elneny mainly after he played in the last two matches with his team against Chelsea and Manchester United, to lead the Egyptian international team to achieve the third victory in a row.
The goals of the match came through Rob Holding in the 39th minute, but Jarrod Bowen equalized for West Ham in the 45th minute.
In the 54th minute, Brazilian defender Gabriel gave Arsenal the full match points by scoring the second goal.
Arsenal returned to fourth place, with a score of 63 points, two points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, while West Ham’s situation became in danger after the loss, so the Hammers’ balance stopped at (52 points).
West Ham may lose the chances of qualifying for the European competitions next season due to Wolverhampton’s approach to it, which has (49 points).
West Ham formation: Lukasz Fabiansky – Vladimir Koval – Kurt Zouma – Aaron Cresswell – Ryan Fredericks – Declan Rice – Mark Noble – Manuel Lanzini – Jarrod Bowen – Pablo Fornals – Said Benrahma.
Arsenal lineup: Aaron Ramsdale – Nuno Tavares – Takehiro Tomiasu – Gabriel Magalis – Rob Holding – Mohamed Elneny – Granit Xhaka – Martin Odegaard – Bukayo Saka – Gabriel Martinelli – Edward Nikita.
Match details:
The 13th minute of the match witnessed the fall of Mohamed Elneny from an injury after a West Ham player interfered.
The first chance of the meeting was in the 27th minute through the Spaniard Pablo Fornals with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area passing over the goal.
The ball came after a wrong distraction by Brazilian defender Gabriel, but the West Ham player did not take advantage of the opportunity successfully.
The danger of West Ham continued, this time through a cross from Koval, hitting the foot of Tavares, to reach the ball at Lanzini, but the latter missed an opportunity to achieve a goal after a wonderful intervention from defender Holding in the 29th minute.
He retreated from the Arsenal players, as Declan Rice tried to take advantage of this situation after he dribbled to reach the edge of the penalty area and hit the ball, but Ramsdale stood in the right place and saved the ball steadily in the 33rd minute.
Arsenal’s first chance against West Ham came in the 37th minute through Nikita with a superb shot, but Polish goalkeeper Fabianski pushed the ball away to a corner.
In the 38th minute, defender Holding managed to score Arsenal’s first goal from a header after a cross from Saka, making the score (1-0) for the Gunners and igniting the summit.
In the last minute of the first half, Jarrod Bowen scored the equalizer for West Ham with a superb shot, to be a quick response by the “The Hammers”.
The goal came after a cross from Koval arrived at Bowen, who is inside the penalty area, to hit a wonderful ball that hit Arsenal’s net, and the result became (1-1).
Saka almost re-advanced his team with a shot from the right inside the penalty area in the 53rd minute, but Fabiansky blocked the ball and turned it into a corner kick for Arsenal.
Arsenal returned to the front again with a goal scored by Gabriel, after the Gunners defender received a cross from Martinelli inside the area to turn it into a header into the West Ham net after ten minutes of the second half.
Nikita almost hit West Ham in the 71st minute, after a superb shot from inside the penalty area just passed the post, leaving West Ham their chance to equalise.
Nikitiah continued his threats against West Ham with a superb shot in the 79th minute from outside the penalty area, but Fabiansky continues to preserve his team’s chances by clearing the ball for a corner kick.
And in the 90th minute, Mohamed Elneny received a yellow card after the two teams entered into an argument before the end.
