Following today’s clash between West Ham United and Arsenal, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
West Ham United hosted Arsenal for an 8pm kick off on Wednesday December 13, with both sides playing out a scoreless draw at the London Stadium.
Arsenal slip to seventh in the Premier League table having now gone three games with a win, but West Ham will be pleased with the defensive improvement they showed in the game to earn a worthy point and see the visitors fail to score in a game for the first time in three months.
West Ham remain in the dropzone but draw level with 17th placed West Bromwich Albion on points.
The hosts failed to get a shot on target but they did hit the woodwork, however, despite dominating possession and overall chances with 22, Arsenal only managed to test Adrian on three occasions.
Teams:
West Ham:
Adrian, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Noble, Obiang, Lanzini, Antonio (Hernandez 82), Arnautovic.
Substitutes:
Carroll, Sakho, Collins, A Ayew, Hart, Rice.
Arsenal:
Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Wilshere, Iwobi (Welbeck 70), Ozil, Sanchez (Lacazette 82), Giroud.
Substitutes:
Ospina, Chambers, Kolasinac, Coquelin, Elneny.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Jonathan Moss blew the final whistle, West Ham manager David Moyes explained.
‘It was another difficult game, we’ve played Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal. I have to give the players great credit for defending well and being resolute. The winner would have been greedy. But if you’ve seen what the players have done over the last couple of weeks, their work deserved that. There’s a good spirit at the moment. They’re all at it together at the moment. I want them to be more robust and we’re still a bit easy to play against. We’re trying to improve that and we want to make our football better. There’s a lot to improve but the first thing was to stop conceding goals. Now we play teams that people would expect us to beat so we have to open up and put pressure on. I’m really enjoying it here. The players, the training, and the supporters have been great, even though I’d heard bad things. Because of that it makes it a lot easier for the manager.’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in his comparitive interview explained.
‘We had so much of the ball, but it was very frustrating because we could even have lost it at the end. They’re happy to defend, they did that against Chelsea and Manchester City, so we couldn’t find the opening and the few chances we had we missed. I can’t fault the effort of the team but West Ham were very good in defence tonight. There’s always concern about the table as we are here to win games. Chelsea came here and lost and we had one day less to prepare. When you play every three days, you lose your sharpness.’
With Jack Wilshere returning to the side, he added.
‘He played well and created many movements forward in the first half. He needs regular football and I’ve said that many times. He’s been patient and he’s been rewarded. What he did tonight is positive.’
