Arsenal spurned the opportunity to retake first place in the Premier League as they lost 2-0 to fellow Londoners West Ham United at the Emirates on Thursday.

West Ham only had three efforts on target but Tomas Soucek gave them a halftime lead before former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos extended the advantage after the break.

Arsenal had more than twice as many chances but failed to take any as the visitors defended gamely.

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Second-placed Arsenal remain on 40 points, two behind Liverpool who beat Burnley 2-0 on Tuesday.

"This is a very disappointing night for us," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters. "We have to put the ball in (the net) and win it (the game)."

West Ham took the lead against the run of play after 13 minutes when Soucek netted after a pull-back from Jarrod Bowen who looked as if he just managed to keep the ball in play.

"It's difficult because the ball was in the air," Bowen told Amazon Prime. "It was hard to tell. It would have been easier to tell if it had been on the ground."

After that it was an Arsenal blitz with Bukayo Saka hitting the post and Gabriel Jesus missing two good chances before Mavropanos scored his first league goal for the Hammers with a thumping header from a James Ward-Prowse corner in the 55th.

"I think the best moment to score my first goal for West Ham and in the Premier League," said Mavropanos.

"We work a lot on the set-pieces, so it was great. It is an important win for everyone and for our boss. We are really happy."

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Source: Supersport

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