Arsenal put aside their captaincy troubles and moved into the top four by beating West Ham 2-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday.
The Gunners went into the game knowing that an outright win was what they needed to move into the Champions League qualification spot for the first time in 14 months and West Ham never looked like stopping that from happening.
After a barren first half, Gabriel Martinelli opened scoring in the 48th minute, racing past two defenders onto a fine pass from Alexandre Lacazette to slot home past Fabianski.
Captain of the day, Lacazette had an early chance to double Arsenal’s lead from the spot after he was fouled by Vladimír Coufal who got red carded for the tackle, but he saw his effort saved.
Emile Smith Rowe who has been on a great run of form put the game beyond the Hammers with a low strike in the closing minutes of the game that had Fabianski rooted to the spot.
West Ham has now gotten just one point from their last five meetings with Arsenal in the London derby – a 3-3 draw back in March.
The win is Arsenal’s first consecutive victory since the first week of November, scoring five times and keeping clean sheets in the process. It was also the fifth straight home victory for Mikel Arteta’s side.
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