Arsenal take a giant leap towards Premier League title with late West Ham win

Arsenal take a giant leap towards Premier League title with late West Ham win

Arsenal left it late to beat West Ham 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday and keep their title hopes alive.

Leandro Trossard scored the only goal of the game after 83 minutes to heap more misery on the Hammers, who have slipped into the relegation places.

The Gunners were first to attack with Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres combining well before Ben White wasted his chance to put a ball in the box.

Hammers goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was then quickly out to claim a whipped in Bukayo Saka delivery.

Konstantinos Mavropanos had to intervene with a crucial block after a super pass from Trossard set Riccardo Calafiori in on goal.

Hermansen then was alert to deny Trossard from opening the scoring with a 12th minute header and was grateful to see the rebound from the same player fly to safety off the crossbar.

Calafiori sent a decent effort curling just over after some Arsenal dominance in midfield, before another good Gunners chance, as an excellent Declan Rice free-kick was kept out by Mavropanos following a clever Calafiori flick.

A rare attack by West Ham saw Jarrod Bowen's low ball into the box almost deflect through to El Hadji Malick Diouf at the back post, while an injury to White saw him replaced by Martín Zubimendi, leaving Rice to move into the right-back position.

West Ham's first attempt on goal arrived late in the half as Crysencio Summerville beat Myles Lewis-Skelly before charging on goal but bending the ball just wide of the far corner.

The loss of White certaily affected the Gunners' game, and the home team ended the half with a big chance when Valentin Castellanos' powerful header needed a strong save from David Raya to push the ball wide.

Cristhian Mosquera replaced Calafiori at the break for Arsenal and moved into the right-back slot.

Saka, who was enjoying a quiet game, firing a rising shot over the bar as Arsenal look to get forward at the start of the second half.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta made further changes with the introduction of Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz for Eberchi Eze and Martin Zubimendi.

There was a check by VAR for a possible handball by Pablo inside the box but the incident was checked and cleared.

The title-chasing Gunners were struggling to create much in the way of a goalscoring chance, but Raya was forced into a strong save after Mateus Fernandes played a one-two with Pablo and fired in the pass from close range

But ultimately it was the away team to break the deadlock, with Trossard firing home, via a massive deflection, after being fed the ball by Odegaard.

That goal has massive implications for not only Arsenal's title hopes but is a huge blow for West Ham's survival hopes.

Arsenal are top of the standings with 79 points from 36 games, five clear of Manchester City in second place, who have a game in hand.

Nuno Espirito Santo's Hammers are down in 18th place, one point behind Tottenham and from a game extra.

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