Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was beyond frustrated with his side’s poor finishing against West Ham, as well as VAR for not intervening with the Hammers’ first goal.

The majority of people, including Arsenal fans, have recognised West Ham’s 2-0 win was down to defensive resilience, hard work and an overall flawless performance. However, Mikel Arteta views things slightly differently.

David Moyes coached a brilliant win in the wake of losing both of his first choice centre-backs. Lethal finishing, well worked counterattacks and a masterclass in defending – Moyes and the players deserve credit for that immense performance.

Unfortunately, Arteta was not willing to give much merit to the visitors and instead believes it was mainly Arsenal’s poor display that led to the Gunners’ demise. 

“We look at how much we generated. The result is very disappointing. They were better than us in both boxes,” he conceded (via The Guardian). “It is what it is. We have to try to generate. We haven’t scored with 30 shots. I cannot imagine a game more dominant.”

“Today it wasn’t enough to win the game. It is football. The team generates that much, normally you are going to win games. Against Brighton we generated so much and against Liverpool as well. Today the team deserved to win the game.”

It is interesting that to this day, some people still are unable to understand that more possession and more shots do not mean you deserved to win. If it was not for every single West Ham player putting their body on the line and defending brilliantly Arsenal likely would have won. The Hammers did not make a single mistake, they were lethal with their finishing and Arteta’s side was not, so who really deserved to win?

Unsurprisingly, the Spaniard had something to say about the use of VAR for Tomas Soucek’s opener, despite claiming he did not see it back. 

“They say it is not conclusive. It is just a shame that with the technology it is not that clear,” he complained. “It is gone and there is not much we can do now. If the technology we have is not good enough to give us an answer, what we have to do without that is win the game with the amount of situations we generated.”

Despite what the opposition gaffer has to say, our Irons undoubtedly deserved the three points. Defending is just as important as attacking in football, and the players did both to perfection. 

Moyes will be ecstatic with that performance and even more so with the result. With the highest point tally the club have ever had half way into a Premier League season, the Scotsman will have his eyes set on creating even more history as we head into the new year.