Arsenal threw away a two-goal advantage against West Ham United to earn a 2-2 draw and gave Manchester City a big boost in their bid to retain the title.
The Premier League leaders, who faced Liverpool last time out, looked set for a comfortable win after taking a 2-0 lead in the 10th minute at the London Stadium.
However, Bukayo Saka missed a penalty and West Ham struck back to take a point and leave Arsenal just four points clear at the top of the table.
Manchester City have a game in hand and host the Gunners on April 26th.
Mikel Arteta urged his players to be more ruthless after his side’s draw.
He said: “We started extremely well again, dominating the game, dominating the pitch and scoring two nice goals and after that we made a big mistake.
“We stopped playing to score a third and fourth goal. It looked too easy. We gave them hope and credit for West Ham, they took it.
“They did what they did really well, extremely direct and we struggled to get out of that game. If you’re not defending your box the way you should, then you have a lot more things to do better.
“Then you can go 3-1 up after 50 minutes and the game is probably over and two minutes later you concede a goal. That’s part of football.
“My concern is that after going 2-0, we made that big mistake and didn’t understand what the game requires at that moment. We need that ruthless mindset to kill a team, and today we didn’t.
Gabriel Jesus deadlocked after seven minutes when he twisted the ball in from a Ben White cross.
Captain Martin Odegaard doubled Arsenal’s lead just three minutes later when he volleyed a cross from Gabriel Martinelli past Lukasz Fabianski in the West Ham goal.
Arsenal’s control of the game dwindled in the 33rd minute when Thomas Partey passed the ball on the edge of his own box, allowing Declan Rice to play for Lucas Paqueta.
Paqueta was then brought down by fellow Brazilian Gabriel, leaving referee David Coote with no choice but to award the hosts a penalty. Said Benrahma made no mistake from 12 yards as he sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way to reduce the deficit to just one goal.
West Ham gained confidence after Benrahma’s goal but it was Arsenal who had the chance to score the first goal of the second half.
They were awarded a penalty of their own in the 52nd minute after Mikhail Antonio worked the ball and Saka had a chance to regain a two-goal lead. However, Saka sent his free-kick wide of Fabianski’s goal to keep West Ham in the game.
David Moyes’ side were then evenly matched just two minutes later when Jarrod Bowen fired the ball past Ramsdale to drive the home fans mad.
Mikel Arteta dropped Jorginho and Leandro Trossard for the January signings as his side were looking for a decisive winner, but the plan fell through.
West Ham did have the best chance of scoring a late winner, but Mikhail Antonio’s header smacked the bar.
Remaining Premier League games
| arsenal | man city | ||
|---|---|---|---|
April 21 | Southampton (H) | 26th of April | Arsenal (H) |
26th of April | Manchester City (A) | April, 30th | Fulham (A) |
2.May | Chelsea (H) | May 3rd | Westham (H) |
May 7th | Newcastle (A) | May 7th | Leeds Utd. (H) |
May 14th | Brighton (H) | May 14th | Everton (A) |
May 20th | Nottm Forest (A) | May 20th | Chelsea (H) |
28th of May | Wolves (H) | 28th of May | Brentford (A) |
TB | Brighton (A) |
(Photo: Getty Images)