Arsenal vs West Ham: The Gunners miss out on reaching the summit of the Premier League before New Year

Arsenal wasted the opportunity to reclaim first place in the Premier League as they lost 2-0 to West Ham United at the Emirates. West Ham only had three shots on target but it was enough to hurt the Gunners. Tomas Soucek gave the Hammers a halftime lead before the former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos extended the advantage after the break in the Arsenal vs West Ham match. Arsenal remain on 40 points, two behind Liverpool who beat Burnley 2-0 on Tuesday.

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West Ham took the lead against the run of play in the 13th minute when Soucek netted after a pull-back from Jarrod Bowen who managed to keep the ball in play.

"It's difficult because the ball was in the air," Bowen said after the match.

Bukayo Saka hit the post and Gabriel Jesus missed two good chances before Mavropanos scored his first league goal for the Hammers.

"I think the best moment to score my first goal for West Ham and in the Premier League," said Mavropanos. "We work a lot on the set-pieces, so it was great. It is an important win for everyone and for our boss. We are really happy."

West Ham could have made it three from three chances but David Raya saved Said Benrahma's penalty in added time after a foul by Declan Rice. It may have been one of those nights when things just did not happen in front of goal but finishing remains an issue for Arsenal.

Jesus should have scored when Arsenal were still one goal behind but headed over it wide. The win helped West Ham climb to sixth place with 33 points.