Yeah, the Gunners might be choking the title before they even play Man City again. Arsenal have followed up their draw against Liverpool with ANOTHER 2-goal lead lost as they drew 2-2 with West Ham, leaving City with a massive opening atop the Premier League.
Arsenal are really going out of their way to choke away the Premier League.
Arsenal have just given Manchester City a huge lifeline in the title race with less than eight games left as they drew 2-2 with West Ham United, despite being up 2-0 and cruising to victory after just ten minutes in the match.
I seriously can’t believe Arsenal, who only dropped 2 of 24 available points (8 wins, 1 draw) in their last nine matches, have now drawn their last two games with one coming against a woefully inconsistent Liverpool side and the other against a West Ham side who were only 3 points outside the relegation zone coming into the match.
They should still be eight points above Manchester City with just seven games left in their season, not finding themselves only ahead by four points with City having both a game at hand over them and another match to play between the two sides. Arsenal are legit having the worst title choke job since Steven Gerrard slipped away Liverpool’s title hopes in 2013.
Like I said, this game was wrapped up within ten minutes as Gabriel Jesus’ 7th minute tap-in and Martin Odegard’s 10th minute half-volley should have been the two goals that popped West Ham’s bubbles. Arsenal had total control over the ball this entire game as they racked up 72% possession, almost 600 passes (596 to be exact), and had an impressive 87% passing accuracy, but were strangely unable to stop West Ham from striking them on the break.
In fact, both of West Ham goals came from two Arsenal turnovers as Jared Bowen’s incredible 53rd minute volley to tie the game came from a clearance the Arsenal strikers could not reclaim, while Said Benrahma’s penalty came directly from Thomas Partey losing the ball right in front of his goal that immediately led to Gabriel giving away the penalty.
Sure, Arsenal had complete “control” over the ball, but they were outplayed by West Ham from the 10th minute onward as the Hammers actually finished with more shots (16 vs. 11), more corners (7 vs. 2), and had better A+ chances than the Gunners (ex: Michail Antonio hitting the post in the 81st minute). West Ham honestly could have won this game if they were slightly more clinical, which just shows how timid Arsenal was for the final 80 minutes.
Now, one could point out that Bukayo Saka missed a penalty right after halftime that would have put the Gunners back up by two, and that would be a fair observation if it was actually a penalty-worthy incident. Antonio literally had his eyes closed, his head turned away from the ball, and was in the process of sprinting towards Gabriel Martelli when the ball smacked off his hand.
Yes, it was somewhat away from his body, but there really wasn’t much he could have done to get his hand out of the way before the ball struck it. But, seeing as how Antonio missed a potential game-winning header later on in the game, both of these chances equal out in my eyes.
So, at the end of the day, this result was pretty much deserved for both sides as West Ham gave their best performance of the season to date, while Arsenal had a second-straight stinker that might very well cost them the Premier League title.
They now have to win EVERY SINGLE GAME left in their schedule, including the ones against Man City (2nd; 72 PTS), Chelsea (11th; 39 PTS), Brighton (7th; 49 PTS), and Newcastle (4th; 56 PTS), to guarantee they win the Premier League title as they currently have a single point between them and Man City if City win their game in hand (which they obviously will).
If this was three weeks ago, I would have said Arsenal were definitely capable of doing such a task, but things have dramatically changed since then. Arsenal (1st; 76 PTS) have now gone on to draw twice after manhandling their opponents in the beginning of the game and opening 2-goal leads, which doesn’t bode well when they face off against a red-hot City side, who haven’t lost a game in all competitions since February 5th, in ten days.
At the complete opposite end of the table, this was a great draw for West Ham (15th; 31 PTS) as it put four points between themselves and 18th place Nottingham Forrest, while they still have a game in hand on everyone but Leeds United (17th; 30 PTS) below them. This doesn’t guarantee their survival, but it does make it a lot more likely.
Nonetheless, this truly is one of the best Premier League seasons in a decade!
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