Substitute Alexandre Lacazette struck a late winner as Arsenal dented West Ham ‘s survival hopes with a 1-0 win at the Emirates.
The Hammers were made to rue a host of missed chances as the Frenchman’s strike, awarded after a lengthy VAR check, saw Mikel Arteta’s side make it eight league games unbeaten since the turn of the year.
With Shkodran Mustafi out with a tight quad, January signing Pablo Mari was handed a first Premier League start while Sokratis continued at right-back after scoring in the win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup on Monday night.
David Moyes, meanwhile, named the same XI that had started the 3-1 win over Southampton, but did have Tomas Soucek back on the bench.
Despite plenty of Arsenal possession, it was the visitors that had the best of the chances in a goalless first half.
Another recent arrival, Jarrod Bowen, hit the woodwork inside the opening two minutes with a low effort that Bernd Leno tipped onto the post, before Michail Antonio wasted a glorious chance, pulling back behind Sebastian Haller when a better past would have left his strike partner with a sitter.
Haller was then himself guilty, miscontrolling when played in by Mark Noble, while Antonio somehow hooked wide on the swivel when reacting fastest to Issa Diop’s knock down inside the six-yard box.
The closest the Gunners came to a first-half opener was when Sokratis headed Pierre-Emerick Aubemayeng’s cross off the top of the bar, though Mesut Ozil might have found the bottom corner but for a good block from Aaron Creswell.
Lukasz Fabianski had to be alert at the start of the second half to thwart Eddie Nketiah after Bukayo Saka’s mazy run, while at the other end, Leno made an excellent one-handed top to deny Antonio.
Lacazette was sent on in place of Nketiah and immediately had a penalty appeal waved away after a tangle with Angelo Ogbonna, while Bowen again tested Leno after being allowed too much space through the middle.
The deadlock was finally broken a little over ten minutes from time when Mesut Ozil cushioned into the path of Lacazette, who swept home, and though the flag was initially raised against the German, VAR eventually showed that he had been played on by Ogbonna.
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