Nightmarish Arsenal claws one point from the jaws of defeat

West Ham 3-3 Arsenal: Nightmarish Arsenal claws one point from the jaws of defeat in exciting draw in the Premier League

 

Arsenal's Bernd Leno punches clear as West Ham pile's late pressure. It ended 3-3. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

From a nightmarish first half, Arsenal clawed a point from the jaws of defeat, went down to hell to wrestle with evil Hammers and live to tell the story.

 

Arsenal fought back from three goals down to earn a thrilling 3-3 draw at the London Stadium, home of West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday and would feel they should have gotten more considering the amount of chances they got at the death.

 

Alexandre Lacazette scored a late equalizer as Mikel Arteta's side produced a stunning comeback at the London Stadium.

 

West Ham took a three-goal lead inside 30 minutes with goals from Jesse Lingard, Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek but replays show the latest of the Hammers’ goal should have been ruled offside if it was awarded to Soucek.

Arsenal responded through own goals from Soucek and Craig Dawson, one in each half, before Lacazette's late header restored parity in a game that provided everything there was to experience in a thrilling game.

 

The result means West Ham miss the chance to move into the top four while Arsenal moved up to ninth in the table.

After the game, Arteta said that the first-half performance from his players will give him “nightmares”

 

West Ham were the better team from the start and opened the scoring after 15 minutes when Michail Antonio set up Lingard on the edge of the box to fire the ball into the top corner with Leno left sprawling;

 

The hosts doubled their lead two minutes later when Lingard took a quick free-kick with Arsenal players not facing the ball and Bowen's strike went under goalkeeper Bernd Leno, you’ll wonder if the German could do better with that.

 

West Ham grabbed a third after 33 minutes after Soucek got on the end of Antonio's header from close range.

Arsenal responded well and got back in the game before the break when Lacazette's shot was deflected in off Soucek.

Lacazette almost scored a second for Arsenal two minutes into the second half but Issa Diop cleared his strike off the line.

 

The visitors did score another just after the hour mark when Dawson smashed Calum Chambers’ cross into his own net.

 

West Ham should have grabbed a fourth goal after 76 minutes but Antonio hit the post from close range.

Arsenal made him pay for that miss as Lacazette converted Nicolas Pepe's cross moments later to equalise late on and earn a point.

 

"I'm very disappointed because I cannot accept my team to play the way we did in periods in the first half," Arteta said.

"I expect we play at the level we did afterwards. We got close to winning and I think we deserved to win it but the first part really worried me."