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5 hours ago
7
It was the most extraordinary finale to an occasion when the tension seemed to override everything. The spectacle suffered. Was there even one to speak of? It came to feel purely like a slow stumble towards the end; towards something decisive.
Then there we were, the players from each team standing on the sideline behind Chris Kavanagh as he pored over the replay monitor on the advice of the video assistant referee, Darren England; his heart hammering, like that of everyone else.
Arsenal led 1-0 through Leandro Trossard’s 83rd-minute goal – his first of 2026 – which had come shortly after David Raya produced a critical one-on-one save to deny Mateus Fernandes. Now West Ham had their lifeline. Or had they?
It all came down to Kavanagh’s interpretation of the moment when West Ham sent their goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen, forward for an all-or-nothing 95th-minute corner and, amid a melee of bodies, Callum Wilson, on as a substitute, lashed a shot at goal. It did not hit the net but when Kavanagh felt his wrist-watch buzz, he knew the ball had gone over the line. In the home sections there was delirium. West Ham could sense something positive in their relegation battle with Tottenham.
The problem for West Ham on the corner, as Kavanagh would be made aware, was that another substitute, Pablo, had gone to challenge with an arm stretched out across Raya, who cried foul. Loudly. So did everybody connected to Arsenal. Kavanagh took an age over the decision and as he deliberated, it was no exaggeration to say the title was on the line. Perhaps the final relegation place, as well.
Manchester City had dialled up the pressure on Arsenal with their 3-0 win over Brentford on Saturday. City watched and waited, too. So did Spurs. Where would Kavanagh land? The answer was probably in the right place, however hard it was on West Ham, however tough the process was for them to stomach. Eventually, Kavanagh drew the outline of a TV in the air and announced, via his microphone, that Pablo had indeed fouled Raya.
Kavanagh was immediately drowned out by the furious West Ham fans, who are now starring into the abyss. They had needed something from their team to give them hope in the battle against Spurs. Instead, they felt only the lowest of blows. The focus will now turn to Tottenham’s home game against Leeds on Monday night.
Arsenal, by contrast, departed with the feeling that their name could be on the trophy. This had the trappings of their hardest remaining game in the battle for a first title since 2004. West Ham have been in good form since the middle of January and their desire to make life as uncomfortable as possible for Arsenal was reinforced by Nuno Espírito Santo’s switch to a three centre-half system. It worked well.
Win here and Arsenal would almost be there. That was the sense beforehand. They have only relegated Burnley to play at home before they finish at Crystal Palace, who will surely have their eyes on their Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano, which comes three days afterwards.
Arsenal are almost there. It was not pretty, the anxiety back with a vengeance after a positive opening quarter to the game. But after a joyful week that has seen them advance past Atlético Madrid into a Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain, they got over the line. They remain on track.
It had been a strangely subdued atmosphere at the start, the West Ham crowd only stirring in the 23rd minute when Crysencio Summerville stamped in to win a 50-50 against Ben White. The challenge was fair but White came off worse, jarring his leg to be forced off. It looked like a bad injury. Mikel Arteta’s response was to move Declan Rice to right-back and introduce Martín Zubimendi in midfield.
Arsenal ought to have been in front by then. They sparked panic in West Ham ranks when they whipped dead balls into the penalty area. From a Rice corner, Trossard – unmarked at the far post – drew an excellent save out of Hermansen before hitting the outside of the upright with another header on the rebound. From a Rice free kick, Riccardo Calafiori flicked on and it needed a saving intervention from Konstantinos Mavropanos. Calafiori had two other flickers in front of goal.
West Ham looked as if they wanted it more after the Summerville-White flashpoint. They began to crash into tackles. And they might have gone ahead on 45 minutes when Taty Castellanos threw himself into a diving header to meet Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross. Raya tipped behind; a fine save.
Arteta changed Rice again for the second half, moving him back into midfield, with Cristhian Mosquera coming on at right-back and Myles Lewis-Skelly going to left-back. Calafiori had an injury problem and had to go off.
Arsenal’s creative travails were reflected by those of Zubimendi. There were groans from the travelling support when he missed an easy pass up the right for Eberechi Eze in the 56th minute. But it was still a surprise when Arteta substituted him with a quarter of the game to go. On came Martin Ødegaard. Kai Havertz also replaced Eze.
Ødegaard made the difference. He exchanged passes with Rice before going back to Trossard, whose shot deflected off Tomas Soucek on its way past Hermansen. It was not over. Wilson was well placed when he turned and shot, Gabriel Magalhães making a vital block. It was the cue for the corner and one of the most seismic VAR decisions of them all.
