17 December,2021 09:08 AM IST | London | AFP
Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli celebrates his goal against West Ham in London on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images
Arsenal showed they can thrive without axed star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the Gunners moved into fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-0 win against West Ham, while the top-flight's Covid-19 crisis deepened on Wednesday. Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe netted in the second half of a fiery London derby at the Emirates Stadium that saw West Ham's Vladimir Coufal sent off.
Arsenal are one point above fifth-placed West Ham after a second successive victory eased the drama surrounding Mikel Arteta's decision to strip Gabon forward Aubameyang of the club captaincy. Arteta's side are in the Top-4 at this stage of a season for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
It is a remarkable reversal of fortune after Arsenal lost their opening three league games for the first time in 67 years. Calls for Arteta to be sacked were widespread after an embarrassing 5-0 thrashing at Manchester City in August, but the Spaniard has steadied the ship impressively.
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Aubameyang was absent from the squad after being removed from the captaincy due to a disciplinary breach on Tuesday. He returned late and missed training last week after travelling to France to see his ill mother. It was not Aubameyang's first transgression, having previously been dropped for the North London derby against Tottenham in March after what was described as a breach of the club's pre-match protocol.
Martinelli broke West Ham's resistance in the 48th minute when the Brazilian ran onto Alexandre Lacazette's defence-splitting pass and stroked a fine finish into the far corner for his second goal this term. West Ham were reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute after Coufal's tackle on Lacazette conceded a penalty and earned the defender a second yellow card.
Lukasz Fabianski plunged to his left to save Lacazette's spot-kick, but Smith Rowe capped Arsenal's dominant display when he finished a move with a clinical strike in the 87th minute.
Meanwhile, Watford's match at Burnley was postponed less than three hours before kick-off on Wednesday after an ongoing Covid outbreak left the Hornets with insufficient players to fulfil the fixture. It was the third Premier League game to be postponed due to Covid in four days as the new Omicron variant causes havoc in England's top-flight.
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