Slaven Bilic was fully vindicated in his stance to rest key players for West Ham’s midweek Europa League clash against Astra in Romania as the Hammers upset Arsenal at the Emirates in the opening day of the season.
Kouyate scored the first on 44 minutes, with Zarate netting the second before the hour mark- both were errors from Arsenal keeper Petr Cech.
Young Reece Oxford (only 16!) had a composed debut, with a pass accuracy of 95% (20/21). He was replaced later in the game by 33 year old Kevin Nolan (twice Reece’s age!), who achieved a little personal landmark of getting to 400 league games.
Fellow debutants Payet and Ogbonna were great as well, with Adrian keeping a clean sheet under the sticks.
All in all, a very solid performance, handled everything Arsenal threw at them with ease, so much that Wenger was forced to bring on an unfit Alexis, whom he had said prior to the game that he would only use in an absolute emergency.
Arsenal 0-2 West Ham (Kouyate 44, Zarate 57)
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