We went into the international break in high spirits after beating West Ham United 2-0 to rack up a fourth successive victory in all competitions.

Goals from Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka saw us claim a deserved and comfortable win, but what were the keys to the victory? Adrian Clarke has dug through the footage and stats to uncover why:

TOTAL DOMINANCE

From start to finish, this match was controlled by Arsenal with great authority, limiting West Ham to virtually nothing inside the final third. The Hammers failed to have a shot on target, and none of their four attempts came close to causing David Raya any alarms between the sticks.

Enjoying 67.9% of possession, Mikel Arteta’s side had 21 shots, including 16 from inside the 18-yard box. Creating four big chances, we also had 48 touches inside the opposition box, which dwarfed the eight managed at the other end. This xG chalkboard paints the picture of a one-sided contest that really should have seen Arsenal win by more than two goals:

It was our second-highest expected goals tally (2.77) of the season, narrowly behind the 2.88 recorded in the 5-0 win at home to Leeds United. From a defensive standpoint, we limited our opponents to an XG of under 0.9 for the sixth consecutive Premier League match, with West Ham mustering a figure of only 0.49:

xG in our PL games this season

Opponent
Expected Goals
Expected Goals Against

Man Utd
1.31
1.52

Leeds
2.88
0.17

Liverpool
0.49
0.52

Nottm Forest
1.84
0.20

Man City
0.89
0.87

Newcastle
2.04
0.61

West Ham
2.77
0.49

Conceding only three goals, and just one from open play, these are extraordinarily impressive numbers when you consider the difficulty of the fixtures played.

LEFT SIDE TARGETED

When you reflect on the best chances we created on Saturday, a very clear pattern begins to emerge. With Viktor Gyokeres occupying both central defenders and Saka providing real width down the right, we enjoyed tremendous success in a pocket of space between their left-back and centre-back.

This lovely slip pass from Martin Zubimendi to Eberechi Eze was typical of what we saw. Eze’s stinging angled shot rebounded to Rice, who scored with a classy finish against his former club.

Jurrien Timber kept coming forward undetected and this example below, from a William Saliba pass, saw him turn inside the box before flashing a cross along the face of goal. It was this scenario that we repeated over and over again.

We saw him get into that domain to brilliant effect when winning us our second-half penalty. Sensing there was a gap to occupy (see how Gyokeres occupies two men), Timber created a 2v1 around left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf, and from a gorgeous clip pass from Zubimendi, he drew a foul from the defender:

NEW LOOK MIDFIELD

An unfortunate first-half knee injury for Martin Odegaard cut short an exciting opportunity to see how a midfield trio of Eze and Rice, alongside the captain, looked against our London rivals.

Odegaard picked up that injury around the 20-minute mark before coming off after half an hour, but there were glimpses of real promise. The Norwegian released Saka into the box in that exact same space discussed, and from his cross, Eze will be kicking himself for spurning an easy-looking chance to score from seven yards out:

Playing in the single pivot defensive midfield position, Rice also looked assured early on. This fantastic pass over the top released Saka in behind, but after putting the ball into the net, his goal was disallowed for a marginal offside:

So, although the balance of our engine room worked beautifully with the masterful Zubimendi at the base from 30 minutes onwards, we did see snippets of the quality this starting three might produce as a unit in the months to come.

CALAFIORI WENT CENTRAL

We know Mikel Arteta likes to see his left -ack invert into central positions, but Riccardo Calafiori almost took that to new extremes. Spending most of this match in central midfield, often to the right of centre, he always ensured we had a spare man to pop passes into.

His positioning dragged dangerman Jarrod Bowen infield, while simultaneously freeing up the likes of Rice and Eze to push on a little higher and wider. This example of the team’s positioning shows this well:

When you study Calafiori’s passing chalkboard it is hard to believe that he played as a left back against the Hammers:

But the Italy international never neglected his defensive duties, and nor could he afford to when chaperoning Bowen. Dropping back into position quickly when Arsenal did not have possession, he did his defensive work very well indeed in an orthodox left-back spot. He was effectively two players rolled into one in this fixture!

IMMENSE TIMBER

Winning four of his six tackles, eight of his 12 duels and making two interceptions on top, this was another decidedly strong display from Timber. Continuing his exceptional early-season form, he perhaps just shaded Zubimendi and Rice for man of the match in my eyes, because he excelled in defence and attack.

His eye for space, making a string of clever underlapping runs, caused West Ham United nightmares from start to finish, and the way he won the penalty showcased terrific technical ability too. Facing away from goal when he controlled Zubimendi’s pass, the Dutchman quickly swivelled to protect the ball, and draw the foul.

Timber’s chalkboard from Saturday proves how heavily involved he was, covering almost every blade of grass down the right side:

He will head into the international break feeling very positive about his own form, and that of the side in general.

Table-topping Arsenal’s dominance in every facet of the game was achieved with consummate ease. The challenge now is to maintain and build on these impressively high standards. 
 

Read more Watch a full match replay of our West Ham win

Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.