Amidst the chaotic atmosphere at the London stadium, coach Mikel Arteta hugged goalkeeper David Raya right after the final whistle. "That is the hug he deserved" - former legend Gary Neville commented.
Arsenal's 1-0 victory over West Ham United may be remembered for the VAR situation of refusing Callum Wilson's late equalizer. But before that, the match was decided by two turning points in just 5 minutes.
First was Raya's miraculous save from Matheus Fernandes' close-range shot - a situation with a expected goal difference (xG) of up to 0.54. In other words, West Ham's chances of scoring in that play were higher than the chances of missing.
If Arsenal wins the Premier League this season, this could completely become one of the iconic moments of the entire campaign. Just 5 minutes later, Leandro Trossard scored the only goal of the match to put Arsenal ahead.
However, this victory also exposed many problems in Arteta's tactical operation. Arsenal started the match excitedly and created great pressure from the beginning. However, a turning point appeared when Ben White was injured. Instead of bringing a natural right-back onto the field, Arteta decided to bring Martin Zubimendi on and pull Declan Rice to play right-back.
In theory, it is not an unreasonable decision. Rice once played well in this position in the victory against Brighton in December last year. However, this time the consequences are very different.
Rice's departure from midfield caused Arsenal to lose their most important shield in midfield. West Ham immediately exploited that gap with speed transitions, especially on the sidelines left by Rice.
Crysencio Summerville continuously created mutations, while Taty Castellanos also forced Raya to make another save.
Arsenal's midfield has become too open and the right wing is no longer locked down" - Gary Neville commented in a live commentary.
At halftime, Arteta was forced to correct his mistake by bringing Cristhian Mosquera on as right-back to pull Rice back to midfield. This adjustment partly helped Arsenal regain control. But the real turning point only came when Arteta continued to change personnel by taking Zubimendi off the field after less than 40 minutes of play to bring Martin Odegaard on.
Odegaard immediately made an impression with his ability to control the ball and deliver delicate assists for Trossard to score the decisive goal. "Taking Zubimendi out was very difficult. But I felt we needed more midfielders capable of creating breakthroughs at that time. And luckily, it worked" - Arteta admitted.
However, this match also showed that Arteta unintentionally made "The Gunners" trouble themselves with unbalanced changes after Ben White's injury. If Mosquera had been brought on from the start to replace White, perhaps Arsenal would not have lost control of the match for most of the time afterwards.
But in the end, amidst the chaos, decisive adjustments and Raya's moment of brilliance helped Arsenal overcome one of the most difficult challenges on the journey towards the Premier League title.
