Improved West Ham avoid being turned over... but why did Areola not do his homework on Saka?

By Alessandro Schiavone at Emirates Stadium

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham

Goals: Rice 38', Saka 67' penalty

West Ham United succumbed to an expected and hardly preventable 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.

Given the Hammers' proud history of causing upsets when with the backs against the wall, and Arsenal's tendency to fail to take advantage of any potential slip-ups by their rivals when up against elite sides on the same day, this was hardly a free hit. And a new manager... always brings a breath of fresh air as players are desperate to prove a point. While the east Londoners stunned Holloway Road on their last two visits.

Yet as the game wore on, there were no credible arguments for the fans to hope that they could be rewarded for making the short trip across London.

Declan Rice, who refused to celebrate against the club that made him, and a Bukayo Saka penalty saw the Gunners over the line in a comfortable 2-0 win to seal top spot thanks to Liverpool's Stamford Bridge faux pas.

Nuno Espirito Santos' Hammers have come a long way in terms of organization and defensive discipline in such a short period.

But that new-found compactness also affected them going forward as the odd adventurousness was greatly missing. And barring a fluffed Niclas Füllkrug header with the game a few seconds old, which was synonymous with a false dawn, the east Londoners produced next to nothing.

The ultra-defensive Hammers survived an early scare when Jurrien Timber's shot was kept out by Alphonse Areola. Eze also missed a good opportunity to open his Arsenal Premier League account when he fluffed a rebound on 23 minutes. Minutes later Saka had a goal cancelled for offside.

Arsenal, who lost Martin Odegaard to injury midway through the first 45 minutes, kept throwing caution to the wind. Yet this time Rice was on hand to smash the ball home after Areola palmed away the ex-Palace ace's shot.

At the end of the first-half Riccardo Calafiori tried to replicate his Etihad stunner from 13 months ago but this time his effort cannoned off the post. The ball struck Areola's neck on its return and the Frenchman was fortunate it did not bundle over the line.

A 1-0 lead going into the last 25 minutes of the game was a scant reflection of Arsenal's total domination.

But Areola, who was his side's MVP and fully deserves to be picked ahead of Mats based on his Everton heroics on Monday, should however have done his homework.

The Frenchman dived to his right when confronted with a Bukayo Saka spot-kick.

Had he rewatched Donnarumma's glorious Euro 2020-winning save and dived the other way he would have kept the Hammers in the game until the very end.

And who knows what may have been in the pipeline- Nuno Espirito Santos' battling men could have nicked an unlikely draw when Callum Marshall headed over deep into injury-time.

In dire times like these, not being turned over by one of the world's best sides is already a big positive to take for the embattled Hammers.

Yet they face the risk of going into the international break bottom of the standings if Wolves see off Brighton tomorrow.