SUBSTITUTE FOR ANOTHER HIGH

Lacazette the latest to score off the bench and it’s sweet 16 for Arteta’s Champions League chasers

SWEET sixteen for Arsenal showed there is still strength in depth at the Emirates. It was supersub Alexandre Lacazette’s turn to come on and snatch the winner in this one, after VAR correctly over-ruled assistant referee Sian Massey’s flag.

But it could have been anyone, as Mikel Arteta (right) again went to his bench to secure victory.

Since the start of last season, Arsenal have scored 16 league goals via substitutes, more than any other side in the competition. And Lacazette has scored four, more than any other player, as he has increasingly had to settle for an impact player role.

But Arsenal needed a huge slice of luck from the tightest of offside calls to emerge with three points.

They were out-thought, outfought and out-shot against a West Ham team who made a mockery of their league position.

The Hammers travelled to north London on the back of a moraleboosting 3-1 win over Southampton. And they should have scored three before half time with Michail Antonio missing from two yards, Sebastien Haller wasting a oneon-one and Jarrod Bowen hitting a post.

Sokratis did hit the bar with a free header in what was Arsenal’s only real attack in their first half of football without a shot on target since January 2019.

But man of the match Bernd Leno had to make a point-blank save from an Antonio header in the second half too before Arsenal finally struck.

Lacazette was initially flagged offside from Mesut Ozil’s cushioned header but a VAR review showed

Angelo Ogbonna had just played him on with his heel.

It meant Arsenal claimed a third straight league win at home for the first time since February 2019.

But boy were they made to work for it.

Yes, the Gunners managed 69 percent possession. But West Ham outshot them 14-9 and had a 6-2 edge in shots on target. Even at the death it took a superb interception from David Luiz and a decent save from Leno to deny Haller an equaliser.

Arsenal can play better than this – and they will have to as well because if they put in a similar performance at champions Manchester City on Wednesday they will get torched.

Arteta has brought a new belief to the club, only lost one league game, and got his players playing with more resilience.

But this was the kind of lifeless display that cost them at home to Olympiakos, when they crashed out of the Europa

League. And while the Champions League is back in their sights, they cannot keep relying on substitutes to get them over the line.

Goalkeeper Leno, the busiest man on the pitch, said: “It was not our best game but you can see this team is alive and has a good mentality.

“You have these type of days when you don’t play your best game but the result is the most important thing.

“We are happy about our mentality but the manager also said not everything was perfect. We have to work on and improve many things.

“Now we focus on Wednesday at City and not what is in May at the end of the season.”