West Ham United 0-0 Arsenal

West Ham United v ArsenalImage source, Reuters
Image caption,

The last time Arsenal failed to score in the Premier League was against Chelsea on 17 September

West Ham manager David Moyes said he is "really enjoying" life with the Hammers after his side earned a valuable point in their fight against relegation by holding Arsenal.

The Gunners are without a Premier League win in three games and are now down to seventh in the table as West Ham continued their revival under new manager Moyes.

They followed up Saturday's win over champions Chelsea by holding Arsene Wenger's side at London Stadium.

"There's a good spirit at the moment, they're all at it together," said Moyes, whose side remain in the relegation places but are level on points with Crystal Palace and West Brom, who are above the drop zone on goal difference.

"I want them to be more robust and we're still a bit easy to play against. We're trying to improve that and we want to make our football better.

"There's a lot to improve but the first thing was to stop conceding goals. I'm really enjoying it here."

Arsenal's Nigeria forward Alex Iwobi struck the outside of Adrian's post as Wenger's side failed to score in the Premier League for the first time in three months.

West Ham also hit the woodwork in the closing stages through substitute Javier Hernandez after the Gunners failed to clear.

Arsenal could have climbed to fourth with a win, but the draw leaves them a point behind Tottenham, who are in the final Champions League place.

"There's always concern about the table as we are here to win games," said Wenger.

"We had so much of the ball, but it was very frustrating because we could even have lost it at the end."

Media caption,

West Ham draw is very frustrating - Wenger

Gunners run out of ideas

This is the first time the Gunners have gone three league games without a win since April.

The statistics demonstrate that Wenger's side predictably dominated possession but they did not create enough chances as France forward Giroud, starting in place of leading scorer Alexandre Lacazette, failed to mark his first league start of the season with a goal.

Wenger named three academy graduates in his starting line-up - Jack Wilshere, who was making his first league start for the club since 15 May 2016, Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Yet Arsenal, who are closer in terms of points to the bottom of the table than they are the top, lacked the quality, composure and ideas to unlock the second worst defence in the Premier League.

Image source, .
Image caption,

Jack Wilshere marked his first league start for Arsenal for 19 months by making 61 passes with a 91.8% passing accuracy

The Gunners managed just three shots on target despite enjoying 70% possession - including Sanchez forcing Adrian into a full-stretch save from a free-kick - but, in truth, West Ham were rarely troubled.

Wilshere blazed another good opening over as Arsenal failed to find a solution to their poor away form.

Wenger's side have won just two of their nine top-flight games away from the Emirates this season, with eight different clubs earning more points away from home in the league than Arsenal.

It will therefore perhaps be a relief to the Frenchman that Arsenal's next three games are all at home.

West Ham responding to Moyes

West Ham have still only won once in 10 league games and failed to have a single shot on target in a Premier League home match for the first time since August 2013.

Yet this performance, on the back of last weekend's win, nevertheless provided further evidence the Hammers are improving under Moyes.

They were compact, well organised and hard working off the ball.

Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Creswell typified West Ham's dogged determination with a string of vital blocks and clearances.

That kind of commitment helped a defence that conceded 32 goals in the first 15 games record back-to-back clean sheets against Chelsea and Arsenal.

And it might have been even better for the Hammers.

Hernandez came off the bench with eight minutes to go and almost scored a stoppage-time winner.

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Soft West Ham are becoming more tough - Moyes

Arsenal's defence did not clear properly, allowing the former Manchester United forward to shoot from 12 yards but he hit the underside of the bar, the ball bouncing off the line and back into play.

After a narrow defeat to leaders Manchester City, a win against Chelsea and a hard-earned point against Arsenal, West Ham will hope to maintain their momentum against teams in the bottom half of the table.

They are at Stoke City on Saturday before hosting Newcastle and then travelling to Bournemouth.

By the time West Brom visit in their first game of 2018 the transfer window will be open, and Hammers co-owner David Sullivan stated in his programme notes that the club will be making "two or three" new signings in January.

Man of the match - Mark Noble (West Ham)

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Captain Mark Noble has been in and out of West Ham's team since David Moyes arrived last month but the Hammers midfielder was always in the action against Arsenal, covering 6.18km in the first 45 minutes alone - more than any other player

Travel sick Gunners - the stats

  • Only once in Premier League history have Arsenal won fewer than nine points from their first nine away games of a season (eight in 2005-06).

  • Arsenal have kept a clean sheet in two of their past three Premier League away games, as many as they had kept in their previous 14 on the road.

  • Alexis Sanchez had more shots (six) and created more chances (four) than any other player in the match.

  • Olivier Giroud has scored in just one of his last eight Premier League starts for Arsenal.

What's next?

Moyes' Hammers are away to fellow strugglers Stoke City on Saturday (15:00 GMT) while at the same time Arsenal will hope to return to winning ways at home to Newcastle United.

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