Leandro Trossard’s deflected finish seven minutes from time earned Arsenal a 1-0 win over West Ham at the London Stadium, a result that survived a near four-minute VAR review which disallowed a stoppage-time equaliser.
The game felt lost and then won in the space of an afternoon: Arsenal took the lead through Trossard’s finish from a teammate’s pass with seven minutes left, and then, in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Callum Wilson blasted home what looked like a leveller only for VAR to recommend a review and the referee to chalk the goal off after a pitch-side monitor check.
The match swung on a single contact. Video officials flagged a possible foul in the build-up; after the on-field check the referee ruled that an Arsenal player had held goalkeeper David Raya’s arm as he attempted to claim the initial cross, and the stoppage-time strike was disallowed. The decision, and the nearly four-minute process that produced it, left West Ham furious and Arsenal relieved.
The win restored Arsenal’s five-point lead over Manchester City and left them with two matches to play, both against sides in the bottom six, a finish-line advantage that matters with the title race entering its final days. Arsenal now sit with a lead they can defend across those last two fixtures.
Set-pieces have been a season-long theme for Arsenal: 21 of their 68 league goals this season have come from set-plays, a haul that represents 31% of their total. That tally underlines how the Gunners have manufactured margins when matches are tight; on Sunday, the slender advantage was enough.
For Trossard the goal carried another weight: he ended a long personal drought, not having scored in 26 games before this finish. For West Ham the late disallowance was crushing — and not only because a goal was taken away, but because the match’s tight refereeing calls were already a talking point. The game featured what officials flagged as five potential fouls in the same sequence of play, amplifying the controversy around the final decision.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised his players after the game, saying the afternoon and the week had been “so full of emotions” and commending the attitude, desire, courage and quality shown across a packed schedule. West Ham’s manager argued that the current climate of officiating is tamping down intervention; he said he now gets the feeling referees do not want to get involved in those moments, a complaint aimed at how tightly VAR and on-field checks are being applied.
The tension from Sunday is simple and immediate: a goal allowed would have turned what becomes a five-point gap into a draw that could have left Arsenal vulnerable. Instead, the narrow victory keeps Arsenal in pole position, with two winnable fixtures left to convert that lead into a title-clinching run. Whether the match will be remembered for Trossard’s deflected finish or for the late VAR intervention depends on what follows — and Arsenal’s next two opponents are in the bottom six.
This result hands Arsenal the control; the question now is concrete, not rhetorical: can they close it out across two matches against lower-ranked opposition and convert a five-point cushion into a first league title in 22 years?
