West Ham battle for point against league leaders Arsenal

Honours finished even at the end of this pulsating game between West Ham and Arsenal at the London Stadium. The visitors took an early lead, when Ben White got to the dead ball line to pull the ball back for Gabriel Jesus to sweep home. Three minutes later, Gabriel Martinelli crossed from the left to find Martin Odegaard coming in round the back to finish. At this stage, the league leaders were coasting, with a number of home fans contemplating a cricket score. But then the irrepressible Declan Rice dispossessed Thomas Party to put Luis Paqueta away in the area. Gabriel duly brought the industrious Brazilian down. Said Benrahma stepped up to convert the resulting penalty. The crucial passage in the game came at the start of the second half, when first referee David Coote awarded a penalty against Mikhail Antonio, who charged down a shot from Martinelli with his arm. Bukayo Saka then fired the penalty well wide. Three minutes later the home side were level, when a long ball from Thilo Kehrer saw Jarrod Bowen come in behind the Arsenal defence to volley home. Bowen then came close to doubling his tally, when put away by Benrahma, he saw his goal bound shot blocked by Kieran Tierney. The final chance of the game fell to Antonio, who saw his header from a Benrahma cross hit the top of the post. West Ham manager, David Moyes, praised the character of his players. "We put Arsenal under pressure, got them on the back foot and moved the ball around the pitch quicker," said Moyes, who welcomed the bit of good fortune that saw Arsenal miss the penalty. Arsenal head coach, Mikel Arteta felt his team started dominating the play and the pitch. They then stopped playing with the same purpose. "We didn,'t defend the box the way we should," said Arteta, who criticised his side's failure to kill games. "We have to kill the game."