Arsenal displayed their gritty resilience and resoluteness even as they come to grips with issues in their squad with their recently-removed captain and shown instead they can thrive without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the Gunners moved into fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-0 win against West Ham, despite a backdrop showing the league’s coronavirus crisis deepening on Wednesday.
The comfortable win has moved the Gunners moved into fourth place in the table. Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe both scored in the second half of a fiercely-fought London derby at the Emirates Stadium that resulted in West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal being flagged red.
After what has been a truly remarkable reversal of fortune after Arsenal lost their opening three league games for the first time in 67 years, the Gunners are now sitting fourth and one point above fifth-placed West Ham at this stage of a season for the first time in two-and-a-half years. Obviously, for Arteta and the club’s hierarchy, this second successive victory has considerably eased the histrionics surrounding the Spaniard’s decision to strip Gabon forward Aubameyang of the club captaincy.
“It was a statement result. The performance, attitude and commitment the players showed is exactly what we are about,” Arteta said.
“We have a leadership group and I expect every player to stick to our values.”
The scenario had been totally a different one in August as calls were on the rise then for Arteta to be sacked after an embarrassing 5-0 thrashing at Manchester City, but the Spaniard has demonstrated an impressive resolve in putting the ship back on an even keel, and not even allowing the Aubameyang drama unable to throw him off-track.
Aubameyang was noticeably absent from the squad after being removed from the captaincy due to a disciplinary breach on Tuesday after having returned late and missed training last week after having been granted permission to travel to France to see his ill mother.
This is not the Gabonese’s first disciplinary breach, having previously been dropped for the north London derby against Tottenham in March after a breach of the club’s pre-match protocol.
Asked if there was a way back from exile for Aubameyang, Arteta said: “We will talk about that another day.
“He was not eligible for this game, that’s it and this game is gone now. We will discuss it in the near future.”
Gabriel Martinelli stopped West Ham’s resistance in the 48th minute when he ran onto Alexandre Lacazette’s brilliant pass and executed a fine finish into the far corner for his second goal this term. West Ham were subsequently reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute after Coufal’s tackle on stand-in skipper Lacazette was given a penalty and secured a second yellow card for the defender.
Smith Rowe adroitly wrapped up Arsenal’s dominant display when he finished with a clinical strike from the edge of the area in the 87th minute.
Although Arsenal had been hit by the coronavirus before their opening game of the season at Brentford, they have so far been spared the recent positive tests afflicting the league as the new Omicron variant begins to wreak havoc in England’s top-flight.
Apart from the Hornets – whose match at Burnley was postponed less than three hours before kick-off on Wednesday after “an ongoing Covid outbreak” left them with insufficient players to fulfil the fixture, United, Tottenham, Brighton, Leicester, Norwich and Aston Villa had already been hit by the virus over the last week.
The Watford-Burnley match was the third Premier League game to be postponed due to Covid in four days . Tottenham’s trip to Brighton last Sunday was called off due to an outbreak at the north London club, while Manchester United’s match at Brentford on Tuesday was cancelled after the Old Trafford club’s positive tests.
The Premier League announced a record 42 positive tests across two testing cycles last week.