Arsenal title hopes hit in shock defeat by West Ham

Arsenal's Premier League title hopes suffered a hammer blow when Jarrod Bowen's goal just before halftime gave London rivals West Ham United a surprise 1-0 away victory on Saturday.

Bowen headed in from close range in the 44th minute and Arsenal's feeble attack, missing a host of injured forwards, could not prevent a first home league defeat of the season.

Arsenal barely troubled visiting keeper Alphonse Areola, managing two shots on target, and played the last 20 minutes with 10 men after substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly was red-carded for hauling down Mohammed Kudus.

Mikel Arteta's second-placed side have 53 points from 26 games and could find themselves 11 points behind leaders Liverpool if they win at champions Manchester City on Sunday.

Arsenal's last home league defeat came 10 months ago against Aston Villa and that ultimately proved decisive as they failed to prevent Manchester City winning a fourth successive title.

As their fans drifted out of the stadium on Saturday they surely felt as though another title bid will end in failure.

With Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka all out injured, makeshift forward Mikel Merino proved the unlikely solution last week with both goals in a 2-0 victory at Leicester City.

A week later Arsenal's attacking limitations were cruelly exposed as West Ham's defence enjoyed a stroll for most of the game on a balmy spring-like afternoon in north London.

"It's a big blow. The performance today wasn't good enough. Really disappointed," Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard said.

"We lacked a bit in final third efficiency. We have to see the game back and analyse it but it wasn't good enough."

THUNDEROUS SHOT

Arsenal could have cut Liverpool's lead to five points and exerted some real pressure on Arne Slot's side if they had beaten a West Ham side they trounced 5-2 away this season.

Instead, 16th-placed West Ham were full value for only their second win in six league games under new manager Graham Potter.

Apart from a thunderous shot by Riccardo Calafiori that went straight at Areola, the hosts did nothing with their territorial superiority in a languid first half display.

West Ham, on the other hand, looked dangerous on the counter-attack with Tomas Soucek twice heading off target and skipper Bowen dragging a good chance wide.

With halftime approaching Arsenal's fans were already getting restless when West Ham took the lead.

Bowen won the ball on the edge of his own area and fed it to Aaron Wan-Bissaka who cruised down the right side before crossing for Bowen to stoop and head past David Raya to claim his 50th Premier League goal.

West Ham fans were enjoying themselves and let out a huge cheer when Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was replaced early in the second half by teenager Lewis-Skelly after an ineffective display against his old club.

Arsenal huffed and puffed after the break and their task got even harder when Lewis-Skelly dragged down Kudus on the halfway line as the West Ham player looked set to break clear with keeper Raya well out of his goal.

A yellow card was initially shown but, after a VAR monitor check, referee Craig Pawson upgraded it to red.

West Ham survived some late pressure against the 10 men as they moved to 30 points from 26 games.

"Everyone wrote us off but we never wrote ourselves off because we know we can win any football game," Bowen said.