#WHUARS

The proverbial game of two halves.

Arsenal woeful in the first half. West Ham a little better but lacked the fire power or quality to press ahead with their slight advantage.

Former Gunner turned pundit Alan Smith seemed to suggest on Sky Sports that Cresswell's heavy challenge on Pepe was "testing the resolve of the player". Replays on TV showed that Cresswell was airborne, i.e. both feet off the ground as he crunched into Pepe. He got the ball but the follow through was unpleasant. This is usually considered a red card challenge.  Not to referee Mike Dean. Not even a yellow or even a free kick.  This of course set a precedent.

On 29 minutes and an awkward fall for Tierney saw him exit with a shoulder injury. He was replaced by Sead Kolasinec, who wasn't in the original starting squad and who was then promoted to the bench with an injury to Bellerin in the warm-up.

It was inevitable that the Hammers would score first.  It came from a set piece and after some messing about and a defence that doesn't track its targets.  Ogbonna scored with a header from a lob to the edge of the six-yard box.

• Had Xhaka not pulled out of the challenge rather than  battling it out, then maybe it might have not gone goalward. 
• Had Maitland-Niles faced the ball rather than attempting some sort of yoga exercise called "ducking out of the way whilst turning your back" the ball might not have hit him on the back of the head and deflected past Leno.

But neither of those things happened and the ball nestled in the net. At full speed either Mike Dean or VAR or both thought it might have been handball but it was clear that it was off his head.  Why VAR took twice as long as everyone in the ground and at home no one will ever know.

And so it was at half-time there were plenty of angry Gooners. Already down to 11th, briefly 12th but for a late goal the evening before, that would have been the starting point. Already on the worst run since 1977 (!) we needed some action.

Until the 55th minute it looked as though whatever Ljungberg had said at half time had been ignored.  The same lackadaisical passing and poor finishing from West Ham kept it 1-0. Luckily when the did get a shot on target, Leno was up to saving it. 

And then.

Kolasinec broke down the left, his ball across the box was perfectly in the path of 18yo Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli and he shot into the net.  Cue dancing around the room.... And jubilance from the Arsenal fans in the ground.

Cresswell tested Pepe's revolve again and this time was rewarded with a yellow card.  He also claimed to have been injured and was subbed.  A common ploy to avoid a yellow.  Even Mike Dean didn't fall for it.

That kind of tackle was the norm in the dark days where clubs like West Ham had "hard men" like Billy "Bonzo" Bonds and Chelsea had Ron "Chopper" Harris. 

"Dirty" Leeds had an entire team of animals masquerading as footballers. 

God only knows how England won a World Cup with players like this...

Anyway.

Minutes later. Ozil, now fully awake from his hour of slumber and slowing the game to snail's pace, broke at pace, yes you have read it right, at pace, his pass to Nicolas Pepe, free on the right, was perfect, 

Pepe stepped inside the defender to get the ball onto his left foot and from the edge of the box curled his shot into the top corner.

The Hammers now rocking and rolling. Nine minutes after the equaliser, Aubameyang played the ball to Pepe, his cross was met by Aubameyang on the volley and it was 3-1. VAR wasn't needed as it was clear that he was onside.

So a win after weeks or even months.... It leaves us with another game in the Europa League in Liege on Thursday and on Sunday we host Manchester City.