Trailing 1-0 in a dreary London derby, what Arsenal manager Unai Emery needed was a creative spark to inspire a comeback at West Ham United.
Mesut Ozil, perhaps? The playmaker was not in the starting lineup, but he was not on the bench either — and he was not injured.
Arsenal’s highest-paid player — reputedly earning ￡350,000 (US$449,800) a week — was not in Emery’s tactical plans, so he did not make the trip across London to the Olympic stadium.
“I decided the idea of the players that I think are the best for this match,” Emery said. “Today the players who were here are the players who deserved to be in this match. We could’ve won or lost.”
However, Arsenal lost — for the third time in six English Premier League matches — after Declan Rice’s first goal for West Ham three minutes into the second half earned the victory.
“We tried for the reaction after the goal, but could not be efficient to create a goal,” Emery said. “We need more, to recover our play.”
Recovering league positions is proving harder. Fifth-place Arsenal fell six points behind Chelsea, who extended their grip on the fourth and final Champions League place after laboring to a 2-1 victory over Newcastle.
Winning the Europa League — something Emery achieved three times at Sevilla — might be Arsenal’s only route back into the Champions League. In Emery’s first season in charge, Arsenal are only two points better off after 22 games than in Arsene Wenger’s final campaign.
Without a Premier League title since 2004, Arsenal look far from being a contender any time soon.
Liverpool, though, are well placed to end their 29-year league drought. After the leaders’ unbeaten start was ended by Manchester City and they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 thanks to Mohamed Salah. The African player of the year netted a penalty four minutes into the second half after being brought down by Pascal Gross.
It put Liverpool seven points ahead of City.
“It was not the best performance of the season in a few departments, but from a maturity point of view, I would say it is the most mature performance in the season,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said. “We are not the Harlem Globetrotters. We have to deliver results.”
After being linked with a departure from Stamford Bridge, Willian insisted his “future is at Chelsea” after curling a winner into the top corner of the Newcastle United goal in the 57th minute.
Chelsea should have completed the job far sooner against a struggling team after Pedro Rodriguez netted the opener in the ninth minute, but Ciaran Clark equalized in the 40th minute after leaping to reach Matt Ritchie’s corner and heading past goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
“It was difficult to kill the match,” Willian said. “We have to be more clinical, but we have the quality to do it.”
Newcastle dropped into the relegation zone, a point from safety.
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