Emery era is Gunner be a slow burner
’I SAW THINGS TO IMPROVE’
UNAI EMERY watched Arsenal finally achieve lift-off under his leadership and then insisted their best is yet to come.
The sloppy Gunners were in trouble when Marko Arnautovic put West Ham in front – but roared back with goals from Nacho Monreal, Danny Welbeck and an Issa Diop own goal.
It meant they stopped the rot after back-to-back defeats and avoided losing their first three league games of a season for the first time since 1954.
But it was a messy, unconvincing display with the Hammers, who remain pointless, threatening to add to Arnautovic’s solitary strike on several occasions.
Arsenal did not make Emery’s first three points in the Premier League safe until Welbeck struck deep into stoppage-time, and by then Hammers skipper and star man Arnautovic had gone off injured.
Emery said: “We are happy. We needed to win and show our supporters a match with three points. But it’s clear we need to improve and not concede so many chances.
“I saw good things, but also things to improve. In the first half we suffered more than we wanted. But the win gives confidence for the players. The first half, we needed calm.”
Aaron Ramsey, back in the team after Mesut Ozil missed out with what Emery insisted was flu and not because of a trainingground row, claimed Arsenal are now heading in the right direction.
He said: “It’s a new process for us. We had a tough start and are trying to improve every game.
“We are progressing every game, it was open at times, but I am glad we got a win. He wants us to press high up the pitch.”
With both sides making a terrible start to the season it was hard to know which manager was under more pressure.
But there was little doubt about it by the time Arnautovic fired the opener past Petr Cech.
Emery has certainly had his critics since he took over and there was a sense
Hammers suffered a serious blow when their scorer Arnautovic limped off
of disbelief as West Ham, who lost 4-1 here in April, took the lead.
As good as it was from Arnautovic, who picked his spot perfectly after a neat feed on the edge of the box from Felipe Anderson, it was awful from the Gunners.
From the moment Jack Wilshere fed Anderson deep in his own half, to the when the ball went in, not a challenge was offered by a single Arsenal player.
The trouble is, the Hammers are just as bad at the back as Arsenal, and managed to protect their lead for all of five minutes. Again it was Manuel Pellegrini’s bizarre tactic of trying to hold a high line which was to blame. Liverpool had torn that apart at Anfield on the opening day.
And the first time Arsenal solved the puzzle with Henrikh Mkhitaryan slipping Hector Bellerin through to the byline, they scored. Bellerin pulled the ball back and with Hammers defenders desperately backpedalling, Monreal had all the time in the world to smash home the equaliser. Lukasz Fabianski denied Shkodran Mustafi and Alexandre Lacazette before Arnautovic (below) limped off. And when Diop launched a panicky sliced clearance high into the air and Ramsey headed back into the danger zone, the Hammers self-destructed. Lacazette controlled it with his chest and turned to fire it home off the unlucky Diop. The visitors had chances to equalise but Welbeck eventually settled it with a close-range finish after more good work from Bellerin.