Gunners suffer hammer blow at home
Print Edition
PETR Cech made an English Premier League debut to forget for Arsenal as his errors helped West Ham United to record a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday.
Cech’s arrival from Chelsea has been acclaimed as a signing that could turn Arsenal into a title contender, but he was found wanting as Arsene Wenger’s side opened the Premier League season with a home defeat for the second time in three years.
Cech’s rash charge allowed Cheikhou Kouyate to head West Ham in front from debutante Dimitri Payet’s 43rd-minute free-kick and the Czech international’s slowness to get down saw him beaten at his near post from 25 yards by Mauro Zarate shortly before the hour.
In a desperate bid to turn the game around, Wenger sent on Alexis Sanchez in the 67th minute, having planned to rest the Chile striker after his recent triumph in the Copa America.
Wenger sacrificed right back Mathieu Debuchy for Sanchez but the ploy failed to deliver, though Arsenal’s sustained pressure led to the clash of heads as Olivier Giroud and James Tomkins both jumped for an aerial ball.
After treatment, the game continued with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain firing a rasping shot into the side netting. Sanchez managed to get into a good position inside the area in the closing stages, but managed only a weak shot that summed up Arsenal’s afternoon.
West Ham’s win echoed Aston Villa’s 3-1 success at the Emirates on the first day of the 2013-14 campaign and enabled Slaven Bilic to crown his first league game as manager with a famous victory.
Bilic named 16-year-old Reece Oxford in midfield and saw the teenager turn in a commanding display as West Ham bounced back from its Europa League elimination at the hands of Romania’s Astra Giurgiu last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Dutch midfielder Giorginio Wijnaldum scored on his competitive Newcastle United debut as former England head coach Steve McClaren began his managerial tenure at St James’ Park with a 2-2 draw with Southampton.
After Graziano Pelle had put the visitors in front, goals from Papiss Cisse and 14.5-million pound (US$22.5 million) new recruit Wijnaldum put Newcastle ahead, but Southampton substitute Shane Long headed in a 79th-minute equalizer.
Liverpool was launching its season later at Stoke City, scene of its chastening 1-6 defeat on the last day of last season, while Manchester City travels to West Bromwich Albion today.
Chelsea opened its title defense with a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea City on Saturday, with Manchester United edging Tottenham Hotspur 1-0.
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