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Jarrod Bowen headed in the only goal just before half-time and an injury-hit Arsenal had no reply after Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent-off on 73 minutes.
Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko, left, challenges for the ball with West Ham’s Tomas Soucek during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge suffered a massive blow as the 10-man Gunners were beaten 1-0 at home by lowly West Ham on Saturday.
Jarrod Bowen headed in the only goal just before half-time and an injury-hit Arsenal had no reply after Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent-off on 73 minutes.
Defeat leaves second-placed Arsenal still eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
The Reds can extend that advantage to 11 when they visit a diminished Manchester City on Sunday.
Any pressure that had built up on Liverpool after drawing two of their last three Premier League games was eased as Arsenal failed to cope with an injury crisis that has depleted Mikel Arteta’s attacking options.
“We are missing players, but we have to focus on the players that are available and we have more than enough quality to do more than what we did today,” said Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
“It wasn’t good enough in front of the goal.”
Midfielder Mikel Merino stepped up in the absence of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka with a late double to beat Leicester 2-0 last weekend.
However, the Hammers easily snuffed out the Spaniard and secured just a second win since Graham Potter took charge seven games ago.
Bowen applied the finishing touch for the winner, but the goal owed more to a driving run and pinpoint cross from Aaron Wan-Bissaka which caught the Arsenal defence off guard on 44 minutes.
“Everyone wrote us off but we never wrote ourselves off because we know we can win any football game,” said Bowen after scoring his 50th Premier League goal.
The home side then left themselves a mountain to climb with a fifth Premier League red card of the season.
Lewis-Skelly has received two of them. The teenager was also sent-off in last month’s 1-0 win at Wolves.
That decision was overturned on appeal, but the left-back could have few complaints this time despite referee Craig Pawson initially only brandishing a yellow card after Lewis-Skelly hauled down Mohammed Kudus.
After a VAR review, Pawson upgraded the yellow to a red for denying of a clear goalscoring opportunity.
West Ham should have added to their lead late on when Kudus and Evan Ferguson failed to beat David Raya.
It did not matter as Arsenal’s toothless attack could not break the visitors down in what may prove the death knell for their chances of a first league title since 2004.
Ipswich 1-4 Tottenham
Tottenham eased the pressure on boss Ange Postecoglou with a 4-1 win at third-bottom Ipswich.
Brennan Johnson put Tottenham ahead in the 18th minute with a tap-in from Son Heung-min’s cutback.
Johnson was on target again eight minutes later, netting with a clinical strike from another Son assist.
Omari Hutchinson pulled one back for Ipswich in the 36th minute.
But Djed Spence’s deflected 77th-minute shot and Dejan Kulusevski’s 84th-minute finish wrapped up Tottenham’s second successive victory.
Wolves boosted their survival bid with a priceless 1-0 win at 10-man Bournemouth.
Bournemouth had Illia Zabarnyi sent off late in the first half when his foul by Rayan Ait-Nouri was upgraded from a yellow to red card after VAR intervened.
Wolves took advantage in the 36th minute as Nelson Semedo’s cross was missed by Dean Huijsen and Matheus Cunha steered his shot past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Vitor Pereira’s team are now five points clear of the relegation zone as fifth-placed Bournemouth’s top four hopes suffered a setback.
Joachim Andersen’s own goal put his former club Crystal Palace on course for a 2-0 win at Fulham.
Daniel Munoz’s 66th minute blast wrapped up Palace’s latest success on the road.
Southampton slipped closer to relegation after a 4-0 defeat against south-coast rivals Brighton at St Mary’s.
Joao Pedro, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood’s 82nd minute effort condemned bottom of the table Southampton to a 21st defeat in 26 league games this season.
Southampton are 13 points from safety with 12 games left to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Chelsea travel to Aston Villa looking to bolster their top four push in Saturday’s late game.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
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