David Moyes accused the VAR
official, Darren England, of making
an error after questioning why
Arsenal’s winning goal in the victory
over West Ham United was not ruled
out for handball.
Gabriel, the Arsenal centre back,
headed past Lukasz Fabianski from
Gabriel Martinelli’s cross in the 54th
minute but Moyes, the West Ham
manager, believed Rob Holding had
handled the ball in the lead-up.
West Ham missed out on the
chance to move above Manchester
United and into sixth place in the
Premier League. “Why would you
think they wouldn’t overturn it?”
Moyes, 59, said. “It looks as if it hits
his arm, I don’t think he heads it.
That would have been in the same
phase of play, wouldn’t it? It hits his
arm.
“Rob Holding is up to head it,
doesn’t actually get it and it hits his
arm. Arsenal scored from the
resulting cross. I hadn’t seen it until
after the game so I didn’t know. They
[VAR] can get it wrong sometimes asArsenal gave so much and this meant
so much that Eddie Nketiah could
hardly move at the final whistle he
had run so much. Gabriel Martinelli
fell to the floor and lay there, having
also worked overtime against a good
West Ham United side. The defender,
Gabriel, was pumped up, fist-bumping
anyone in yellow, knowing they had
overtaken Tottenham Hotspur in the
Premier League table and are within
a win of third-placed Chelsea.
When they recovered their breath,
Arsenal’s players marched over to the
two tiers of writhing, celebrating fans
here at the London Stadium and
saluted them. Bukayo Saka and Aaron
Ramsdale were the last to pull
themselves away from the scene.
Ramsdale even walked backwards to
the tunnel, continuing to take in the
sight of the fans partying and the
sounds of them singing themselves
hoarse in praise of Mikel Arteta and
the players. A West Ham supporter
paused his journey to the exit and
repeatedly held up the middle finger
of his right hand towards them.
West Ham pushed Arsenal so hard,
especially late on, and there was also
Chief Football Writer
at London Stadium
HENRY
WINTER
Darren Cann, the assistant who was
close by, is the most experienced in
the Premier League, and having all
the knowledge acquired through two
decades running the line, including
the 2010 Champions League and
World Cup finals. Cann signalled no
contact and Mike Dean booked
Bowen for simulation. Yet what else
was Bowen supposed to do? Ramsdale
was reckless, rushing at him, and
Bowen would have risked injury had
he not hurdled the goalkeeper. The
booking was harsh.
West Ham’s mood darkened further
when Arsenal took control. Saka drew
a low save from Fabianski and from
the corner, the ball hit Coufal, and
carried on to Martinelli. The boys
from Brazil, more specifically the state
of São Paulo, delivered in the 55th
minute. Martinelli’s ball flew to the far
post where Gabriel’s header was too
much for Fabianski.
David Moyes sent on Michail
Antonio and then Tomas Soucek,
both originally rested for Thursday’s
trip to Frankfurt, for Lanzini and
Mark Noble, who received a standing
ovation. Arsenal ran down the clock
and Nketiah was booked for time-
wasting. The final whistle soon
sounded and Arsenal’s celebrations
intensified. But they have to maintain
this focus.
4 1GG Monday May 2 2022 | the times
thegame
VAR’s failure
TOM RODDYArteta’s battling
youngsters pass
test of character
understandable lingering anger over a
booking for Jarrod Bowen for not
wanting to be flattened by the
reckless Ramsdale and wisely taking
evasive action. The threat of Bowen
and Declan Rice made Arsenal’s win
feel even more precious for the away
side. Spurs had earlier faced a
Leicester City side clearly more
focused on Europe this week while
West Ham had many of their A-listers
starting despite also having a big date
on the Continent. This was a test for
Arsenal, tactically, physically and
mentally, and they passed. They are
young, developing and clearly
dancing to Arteta’s tune.
Afterwards, Arteta questioned
aspects of his team’s performance,
especially their ball retention in the
first half, and was clearly guarding
against any slide into complacency.
He needs his players to stay fixated
on the fixtures to come, an assault
course rather than a cakewalk.
Arsenal next face Leeds United at
home, then that seismic shootout
with their neighbours at the
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a trip to
Newcastle United before finishing up
with Everton at the Emirates. Every
match matters. Every moment
matters. Arteta learned under the
obsessive Pep Guardiola.
He keeps challenging his players,
and the group which lost to Crystal
Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion and
Southampton have responded to
Arteta’s demands, showing more
resilience, beating Chelsea,
Manchester United and now West
Ham. He has made the players
tougher, more committed to the
team, and the decision to ease
out Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang is increasingly
vindicated. Martin Odegaard
now captains the side (with
Alexandre Lacazette on the
bench) and has also raised
his game, hurting
opponents more.
With Aubameyang
gone, Nketiah gave
another tirelessdisplay at centre forward. Arteta
needs Nketiah to keep showing this
more rugged, streetwise side, standing
up to opponents, even managing to
wind up Rice, and constantly
troubling West Ham’s defence with
his movement. Nketiah was a high-
speed pest, even winning six duels.
The team ethos is everything for
Arteta, and that is why he so likes
Rob Holding, who again stepped into
the breach as Ben White had a tight
hamstring. Holding doesn’t complain
when on the bench, just makes sure
he is ready. He started here and was
certainly ready seven minutes from
the break when Saka curled in a
corner won by Nketiah. West Ham
were badly exposed. Manuel Lanzini
was on blocking duty, all 5ft 6in of
him, while Kurt Zouma was expected
to attack the ball in that zone.
Lanzini could not cope with
Holding’s height or strength, Zouma
was too slow taking responsibility,
and Holding steered his header past
Lukasz Fabianski. Nobody was
guarding on the post as is the modern
way. A plume of red and yellow rose
from the away section.
A decent game broke out. West
Ham refused to accept being behind.
Rice led the charge, flicking a header
that Ramsdale clawed away and the
England midfield player was involved
in Bowen’s equaliser a minute from
the break. Rice picked up possession
50 yards out and drove the ball from
left to right to Vladimir Coufal. The
full back found Bowen, who exploited
Gabriel’s strange hesitation. Rather
than step towards Bowen, Gabriel
stopped, and turned his body to
try to block the shot. Bowen
made contact, and the ball
took a slight deflection off
Gabriel and beat Ramsdale.
When Saka tripped Bowen and
was booked, the mood music did
not look so good for Arsenal
at the start of the second
half. They were
almost opened up
when Bowen tore
down the inside-
right channel, and
leapt to avoid the
rampaging Ramsdale.1
Bowen 45RATINGS
West Ham (4-2-3-1): L Fabianski 6 — V Coufal 7,
K Zouma 6, A Cresswell 6, R Fredericks 5 — D Rice 7,
M Noble 6 (T Soucek 77min) — M Lanzini 6
(M Antonio 70, 6), P Fornals 6, S Benrahma 6
(A Yarmolenko 81) — J Bowen 7.
Booked Cresswell, Bowen.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): A Ramsdale 7 — T Tomiyasu 6
(C Soares 78), Gabriel 7, R Holding 7, N Tavares 5 —
M Elneny 6, G Xhaka 6 — B Saka 7 (E Smith Rowe
87), M Odegaard 6 (A Lokonga 90), G Martinelli 7 —
E Nketiah 6.
Booked Saka, Nketiah.
Referee M Dean.West Ham Arsenal
2
Holding 38
Gabriel 54Arteta applauds his
players off the field0-1 HOLDING 38MIN
1-2 GABRIEL 54MIN
Holding heads his first league goal for Arsenal to open the scoring at the London