Nketiah’s late strike gives Arsenal 2-1 win over West Ham United

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A late goal from substitute Eddie Nketiah gave Arsenal a 2-1 home win over West Ham United in the English Premier League (EPL) on Saturday.

Michail Antonio’s first half strike for the visitors had cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette’s 50th goal for the Gunners.

West Ham were more organised playing with a five-man defence than in their opening 2-0 home loss to Newcastle United as they faced an Arsenal side fresh from winning at Fulham.

But the hosts broke through in the 25th minute when captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, fresh from signing a new three-year deal, sprang onto a through ball down the left.

He then chipped across to Lacazette, who headed past goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

West Ham levelled just before half-time with a brilliantly worked move from deep in their own half.

Tomas Soucek ran the ball through the middle and sent a pass wide to Ryan Fredericks who whipped it into the path of Antonio to net from close range.

Antonio nearly doubled his tally with another tap-in shortly after the restart, but Arsenal’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno got down at his feet to smother the ball right on the goalline.

Instead, Nketiah claimed all three points for the hosts.

He latched onto a Dani Ceballos layoff in the 85th minute, having come on less than 10 minutes before then to replace Lacazette.