11/05/2026 – West Ham 0-1 Arsenal “The Day Arsenal Tried to Kill Us”

It’s been a while since I’ve been here to blog about Arsenal, mostly due to my bipolar feelings about the club and the season. Since the loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup I have had the highest highs and lowest lows I’ve ever experienced as an Arsenal fan. What I witnessed yesterday though at the London Stadium is a mixture of emotions I have never felt to such a degree, years have come off my life due to the antics at the end of the game.

After the cup final defeat, Dad and I travelled down to St. Mary’s for our first away trip together since Preston North End in the FA Cup in 2018. The Southampton game resulted in anger I have never felt before and on top of the cup final defeat the week earlier I gave us no hope of getting anything against Man City in the league, there was no cohesion between players, injuries galore and what felt like no belief. But just to compound the misery; Bournemouth turned up at the Emirates and took us down, now leaving the title in Man City’s hands, I gave up if I’m being honest, I was watching some of the worst football I had seen in three or four years. So we went to the Etihad in the worst form of our season and yet despite losing 2-1 on that decisive afternoon hope was restored? I put a question mark there because it doesn’t make sense when I write it, but there was hope again, the boys despite losing the game played really well, it was the first time in months I had seen a spark or belief that we could do this.

So, since that game we beat Newcastle 1-0, a hard-fought victory against a team needing wins for any hope of Europe. Then we were robbed away at Athletico Madrd with a typical UEFA handball decision and a reversal of a penalty awarded to us for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Anyway, a decent result with one of the biggest nights the Emirates has ever seen the following week. First though was Fulham and this is where it all started to click for me again, my belief was in full flow once more. A superb performance, back to our best in many respects, we should’ve scored more in the second half, but the first half was absolutely electric, and the fans needed that just as much as the players. That game was where the Swedish fella up front turned into Victor Gyokores.

David Moyes helped Arteta more than anyone could’ve imagined with Everton drawing 3-3 with City on the Monday after and that shifted the title back in our favour, it was back in our hands! Off the back of the Fulham game and the City blunder was one of the best nights of my life, beers fell down my throat and tears fell down my face, what an atmosphere, what belief! The performance in all honesty wasn’t anything to write home about, but that’s what made it special, the lads left their hearts and souls out on that pitch, we got the all important goal just before halftime and that gave everyone in the ground the lift they needed to push with everything to the final whistle. I’ve never seen the Emirates like that at fulltime before, nobody left their seats it was like a lap of honour was taking place and boy they deserved it. So, our first Champions League final in 20 years and just our second ever. Tickets have been booked to Budapest via Vienna to ensure we are out there supporting our boys on the streets of Hungary, ticket or not. Without a doubt we are the underdogs going up against last years winners PSG, but I think that plays into our hands, absolutely anything can happen in a final.

I want to focus on yesterday’s cardiac struggles for now though. This is another game where the performance doesn’t matter too much, I’m more concerned about the result and that’s what we got… just! We started the game well hitting the bar and making their lived very tricky. However, I thought as soon as Ben White was replaced it threw the balance of our team up in the air and until he made the correction sub at halftime we struggled to trouble the West Ham goal. I must credit Arteta here because he was brave with the substitutes and it paid off big time; he made the right decisions at the right moments. Martin Odegaard the skipper reminded everyone of the quality he possesses, not just in leading the press but on the ball, he had the x factor. The play building up to Trossard’s goal was brilliant and exactly what we needed to break West Ham down. Speaking of Trossard that guy was magnificent, my man of the match without a doubt, he worked his socks off. Another huge shout has to go to David Raya who in recent weeks has put himself in the player of the year and Ballon Dor discussions. The save 5 minutes before we took the lead might go down as the moment that got us the title, it was legendary. Should Fernandes score? Definitely. But Raya did the best possible job to stop him. Now we have to mention the controversy at the end. I’m going to keep this relatively short. Its 100% without a doubt a foul and anyone who disagrees is not a football fan or has an agenda against Arsenal, the only thing I can say is that there were other fouls going on at the same time, but this is not the NFL, fouls don’t cancel each other out. Raya was stopped from jumping and catching the ball by two West Ham players, one with his arm across Raya and the other pulling his shirt. As much as I understand the heartbreak for West Ham that’s not the moment that got them relegated its losing 18 other league games before hand.

What a win for us though, it leaves us with Burnley and Crystal Palace to go, and we will be Premier League Champions for the first time since the Invincibles in 2004. This is the first time I truly feel it’s there for the taking. It’s going to be an intense few weeks but let’s hope not as much as yesterday’s heart attack fuel, I won’t survive. Two to go. COYG!!

Player Ratings:

Raya 9/10

White n/a

Saliba 8/10

Gabriel 9/10

Califiori 8/10

Lewis Skelly 7/10

Rice 7.5/10

Eze 7/10

Saka 7/10

Gyokores 7/10

Trossard 10/10

Subs:

Odegaard 9/10  Zubimendi 5/10             Havertz 7/10

Mosquera 8/10  Madueke 5/10