Gunners in frustrating draw with Hammers

Dominating possession and the shot count, but yet again we are forced to settle for a point - this time following a goalless draw at West Ham.

An away derby clash is never expected to be easy and on another day maybe a point would have been easier to accept, but we were far too wasteful and for all our dominance the end product was disappointing. Yes, West Ham deserve some credit for defending well, but we really should have done better in attack.

It was great to see Jack Wilshere given his first league start since May 2016 and most of his passing was spot on, but other than that there wasn't too much for us Gunners fans to feel positive about after the draw.

Alexis Sanchez forced an early save out of Adrian in the West Ham goal, but it was in fact the hosts who created the best chance of the first half after 15 minutes. Arthur Masuaku's cross was headed home by Marko Arnautovic, but the referee disallowed his effort for offside. It was a very tight decision, but it looked correct and we were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who was one of the few positives to come out of the game for the visitors, shot wide after 22 minutes. Although it was good to see him get a start, I don't understand at all why Sead Kolasinac was left on the bench. Kolasinac has looked a bargain and a decent signing and is not a player who should be among the substitutes, especially for a London derby clash.

Alex Iwobi had Arsenal's best chance of the first half shortly before the half hour mark, but his effort hit the woodwork following good play by Sanchez.

West Ham saw their penalty appeals turned away after Manuel Lanzini went down in the box. Some sections of the crowd believed he had been fouled in the box by Granit Xhaka, but I genuinely felt the Swiss midfielder was merely shielding the ball out of play.

Arsenal began to show more purpose in the second half with Hector Bellerin shooting off target before Olivier Giroud headed just wide soon after. At the other end Arnautovic sent an effort over the crossbar.

The chances continued to come and go for Arsenal as Sanchez's effort deflected into the path of Mesut Ozil, but the German playmaker's half-volley went wide.

The officials spared Arsenal's blushes after 65 minutes when Arnautovic's shot was cleared off the line by Nacho Monreal. Although it was decent defending by the Spanish full-back, maybe things could have ended differently had the flag not gone up beforehand. It looked to have been pulled back for a push on Laurent Koscielny although I have seen some suggestion that it was for offside.

Back came Arsenal and after an excellent headed assist by Giroud, Wilshere controlled the ball in the box, but unfortunately the midfielder fired his shot over the crossbar.

The closest the Gunners came to a goal in the second half was when Sanchez's free-kick was superbly parried by Adrian, but in truth the visitors didn't trouble the Hammers' goalkeeper enough.

Bellerin and Sanchez saw their efforts blocked by the defence as time continued to run out for Arsenal, and it was in fact West Ham who came closest to breaking the deadlock. Substitute Javier Hernandez latched onto a fine pass from Mark Noble before his shot hit the crossbar and bounced just the wrong side of the line.

It was a very big let off for Arsenal on what was a frustrating evening for Arsene Wenger's men, who have now dropped down to seventh in the league and this is simply not good enough!

OPPOSITION VIEW
West Ham fan Adam Brown was pleased with elements of his side's performance and believes a draw was a fair result.

"I think West Ham defended really well, made it hard for Sanchez and Ozil to get anything going," said Brown. "Marko and Hernandez were two huge chances and should have taken them.

"We were so unlucky not to steal it at the end. Although Arsenal controlled most of the game, Wenger should have noticed our defensive compactness against City and Chelsea and planned against it with width to stretch us.

"Both sides missed big chances so a draw seemed fair in the end."

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
We need to start being more clinical in attack and quickly and that is a large factor as to what has seen us drop more points in recent months.

22 shots and three on target is an embarrassing statistic! Yes, creating that many chances is great, but it means nothing if you don't score and there's no point dominating teams if we don't win the match. Arsene Wenger said after that match that he wasn't worried about a lack of ruthlessness and he thinks it will come back again. Inevitably it will come back again at some point, but I am more concerned about the situation, as we don't just need it to return we need it to be consistent and regular.

It is frustrating that Alexandre Lacazette didn't start or even come off the bench until the final eight minutes. Although he reportedly had a hamstring problem, if he was fit enough to make the bench we should have given him longer than eight minutes to make an impact.

Regardless of that the team which started the match was more than good enough to have won it on another day, but the level performance, especially in the final third, wasn't up to the standard that it should have been.

Recently we learnt that our round of 32 Europa League opponents would be Swedish side Osterunds. I am fairly pleased with the draw as that is a very winnable game providing we don't underestimate our opponents and we need to actually take our chances.

We now need to focus our attentions on the visit of Newcastle and a game that I feel is an absolutely must win. I would have thought that anyway, but after two draws in a row we need the win badly and the manager and players need to raise their game to make it happen.

After that we face West Ham again, but this time in the League Cup, and one thing is for sure - if we are to improve on our results we must start improving in the final third and need to be a lot more clinical with the chances that come our way.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS