Arsenal edge to hard-fought victory against West Ham at Upton Park
Arsenal withstood a strong second-half fightback from West Ham to win 2-1 at Upton Park and move above the Hammers in the Premier League table.
The hosts enjoyed the better of the opening 45 minutes but fell behind shortly before the break when Winston Reid fouled Santi Cazorla in the box and the Spaniard dispatched the subsequent penalty.
Danny Welbeck doubled Arsenal’s advantage a couple of minutes later as he tapped in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross from a few yards out.
The Hammers halved the deficit early in the second half as Cheikhou Kouyate headed in his first goal for the club.
But despite piling on the pressure they could not grab an equalizer as Enner Valencia headed over the bar in injury time and the Gunners held on for all three points.
Both sides made a number of changes from their Boxing Day outings, with Sam Allardyce preferring Diafra Sakho up front ahead of Valencia and Arsenal replacing the suspended Olivier Giroud with Oxlade-Chamberlain and handing a first start since January 2013 to Francis Coquelin.
It was former Gunner Alex Song who thought he had broken the deadlock early on when he drove in a brilliant volley from 25 yards, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
It looked to be a harsh decision as no West Ham player touched the ball on its way through a crowd, but the linesman ruled the players in an offside position in front of Wojciech Szczesny were interfering with play.
The Hammers were also aggrieved a few minutes later as Sakho went down in the box under a challenge from Mathieu Debuchy.
At the other end, a crucial block from Joey O’Brien prevented Alexis Sanchez closing in on goal before the Chilean miscued a header from Cazorla’s free-kick.
Andy Carroll served warning of his threat as he easily outmuscled Debuchy as they competed for a high ball, only to then drag his volley well off target.
The Hammers continued to look dangerous from set pieces and spurned a decent chance to take the lead when James Tomkins wastefully volleyed over the bar from an excellent position.
The miss would prove costly as the Gunners then stunned the home side with two goals in as many minutes just before half-time.
There was a hint of fortune about the first as the ball ricocheted through kindly for Cazorla, who was clearly fouled by Reid and made no mistake from the penalty spot.
That was Arsenal’s first shot on target and they made it 2-0 with their second as Oxlade-Chamberlain combined well with Debuchy down the right and then crossed for Welbeck to tap in.
Stewart Downing went close to halving the deficit as he dragged a shot wide from just inside the box before Sanchez saw an effort deflected just wide at the other end.
While the home side would have been disappointed to be 2-0 down at the break, it didn’t take them long to get on the scoresheet in the second half.
After Per Mertsesacker did well to beat Carroll to a header, the ball was lofted back into the box by Tomkins and Kouyate easily rose above Debuchy to head home.
The goal was just what the Hammers needed and Sakho was inches away from turning in Kouyate’s cross to equalize moments later.
With the Arsenal box under regular bombardment, the visitors’ best moments came on the break, with Adrian pulling off excellent saves to deny both Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez.
Welbeck, though, should have put the game to bed when a misplaced pass from Downing gave the England striker a clear run at goal, but he shot over the bar.
The Hammers piled on the pressure in the closing stages, with Adrian going forward for a few set pieces, but Valencia headed their last chance over the bar.
Mame Biram Diouf scored twice for Stoke City as they moved into the top half with a 2-0 win over struggling West Brom to pile the pressure on Baggies manager Alan Irvine.
Diouf fired through Ben Foster's legs to open the scoring on 51 and then benefitted from a slice of luck to make it 2-0 on 66, Marko Arnautovic's cross-shot hitting both of his legs before nestling in the back of the net.
Bottom side Leicester City closed the gap on the rest of the table with a 1-0 win over Hull City, their first victory since the memorable 5-3 win over Manchester United on September 21.
Riyad Mahrez scored the only goal of the game on 32 minutes when he cut in from the wing and curled a shot past Allan McGregor - they now sit three points adrift of Burnley and Crystal Palace after holding on with 10 men following the late dismissal of Paul Konchesky. Hull had Stephen Quinn dismissed in the closing seconds.
Palace picked up a valuable point in their first game under caretaker manager Keith Millen when they held QPR 0-0 at Loftus Road.
There were also no goals at Villa Park where Aston Villa and Sunderland played out a 0-0 draw, the home side playing most of the second half with 10 men after Fabian Delph was sent off for a foul on Jordi Gomez.
Gomez hit the post late on for Sunderland as Gus Poyet's men pressed for victory but Villa were able to hold on to stay a point above their opponent in 13th place.
