By R. Alexander Núñez
He Arsenal was only two wins away from conquering the title again. Premier League after winning 0-1 at West Ham United in a match marked by tension, the decisive interventions of David Raya and a VAR review in added time that ended up annulling the home team’s tie. The team led by Mikel Arteta resisted until the end at the London Stadium and took advantage of a goal from Leandro Trossard to sustain a key victory in the final stretch of the season.
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The definition of the match came in the final minutes. Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice built a wall that broke the West Ham defense and left Trossard in a finishing position. The Belgian attacker defined with precision in the 83rd minute and unleashed the celebration of the visiting bench, aware of the importance of the three points.
However, drama appeared in the last action of the engagement. Callum Wilson scored the equalizer in the ninety-nine minute, but the referee received the call from the VAR to review a possible infraction on David Raya during the play.
After three minutes of analysis, the referee invalidated the goal when he considered that Pablo fouled the Spanish goalkeeper in the jump, a decision that provoked strong complaints from the West Ham bench.
Raya’s performance was decisive long before the final controversy. The goalkeeper avoided the tie with two high-level interventions: a dive against a header from Taty Castellanos just before the break and a save with his foot against a shot from Mateus Fernandes with fifteen minutes remaining.
Raya supports Arsenal and West Ham gets complicated
Arteta’s team dominated much of the first half and generated several dangerous situations from the start. Riccardo Calafiori came close to opening the scoring on several occasions and Trossard also challenged goalkeeper Mads Hermansen with a shot that ended up hitting the crossbar.
Set pieces once again became one of Arsenal’s main offensive weapons, although this time without immediate effectiveness. Gabriel headed over the goal and Konstantinos Mavropanos prevented the goal on the line on more than one occasion.
The meeting suffered a major interruption due to Ben White’s injurywho left the field assisted by the medical team. The situation generates concern due to the proximity of the World Cup and the possibilities that the defender had of entering the England squad led by Thomas Tuchel.
In the second half, the pace dropped and West Ham managed to balance the development. Even so, Arsenal found support in Raya every time the game seemed to slip away. Mateus Fernandes had the clearest opportunity for the locals, but the Spanish goalkeeper reacted with an intervention that prevented the goal when a large part of the stadium was already celebrating.
With this result, Arsenal maintains control of the fight for the title and He is two victories away from being crowned English champion for the first time in 22 years. On the other hand, the outlook for West Ham becomes more complicated.
The London team remains committed to permanence and could be four points away from safety if Tottenham Hotspur Win your next match.
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