Premier League 2018/19: West Ham vs Arsenal

Arsenal fell to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to West Ham on Saturday. Unai Emerys side put in arguably their poorest performance of the season as a solitary Declan Rice goal gave the Hammers all three points against their London rivals. Champions League-chasing Arsenal came into the game requiring a win to keep them within sight of Chelsea in fourth place. West Hams tactical setup and Arsenals lack of creativity meant that Arsenal fell to a fifth defeat in the Premier League.

This tactical analysis will show how Manuel Pellegrinis side deservedly won as they executed their game plan to perfection. West Ham have improved steadily with every game under the Chilean and as much as Arsenal were poor, West Ham were organised, industrious and focused. The home sides starting XI was a well balanced mix of flair and solidity. Despite experiencing only 41% of the possession, the Hammers had 11 shots of which three were on target compared to the visitors two.

Arsenal devoid of creativity 

Arsenal were set up in a 3-4-3 formation. Mesut Ozil missed yet another away game fueling speculation that his future under Emery is looking bleak. However, despite all these off-field issues, Arsenal dearly missed Ozils creativity in midfield. Arsenal enjoyed 59% of the possession but were still only able to register two shots on target.

With an xG of 0.69, Arsenal were genuinely devoid of any sort of creativity from midfield. This forced the forwards Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to drop deeper in an attempt to make things happen. The lack of an attacking midfielder meant that Granit Xhakas role in dictating the tempo from deeper in midfield was affected as well. The Swiss had to take up more advanced positions in midfield which, as a result, handicapped the transition from defence to midfield.

The introduction of Aaron Ramsey and Lucas Torreira after West Hams goal brought a significant impetus to Arsenals attack simply because both were able to operate as ball-carriers effectively. As Emery conceded later, Arsenal gave up too much room in midfield which cost them the game.

Over-reliance on overlapping play

Sead Kolasinac has been an important attacking outlet this season. The Bosnians understanding with Alex Iwobi on the left flank allows him to bomb forward at will. Similarly, Hector Bellerin enjoys the same freedom on the right flank. Arsenal have been far too reliant on the overlapping capabilities of their wing-backs and when these channels were cut, they struggled to find any other solution.

Hector Bellerins absence was a significant issue as his repla