Arsenal v West Ham LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Hammers move into top six with shock away win

Arsenal missed the chance to return to the top of the Premier League as they slipped to a disappointing defeat against West Ham amid more VAR controversy.

The Gunners needed victory to replace Liverpool at the summit but lost 2-0 to the Hammers on a night where David Moyes finally landed a victory at the Emirates Stadium.

His West Ham side lost Kurt Zouma ahead of the game and Lucas Paqueta after just over half an hour but hit the front through Tomas Soucek’s strike, awarded after VAR could not determine whether the whole ball had gone out of play in the build-up.

A second-half header from former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos secured the points and things could have been even better for the visitors had Said Benrahma not seen a last-gasp penalty saved by David Raya.

Read the full match report below:

That’s West Ham done for the calendar year and they’ve ended it in style with back-to-back wins over Man United and Arsenal. They are back in action on January 2 as they host Brighton, who won earlier tonight against Tottenham.

Arsenal, meanwhile, remain second but Arteta’s side do still have the chance to end 2023 on top of the table when they travel to face Fulham on New Year’s Eve.

That’s all from us today, though. Until next time!

It’s been mentioned a lot today but, at last, it’s a win for David Moyes away against Arsenal. It’s taken him 23 attempts but the 60-year-old finally has his win. And what a way to do it.

On Lucas Paqueta’s injury: “He got it in the warm-up and when he came in we had a decision to make. He just felt something at the back of his knee. I didn’t know how long he was going to last. He is such a talented player and he makes us such a better team.

“It was difficult because we could have probably said in the dressing room ‘we’ll make the change now’. Thankfully he came off.”

On Jarrod Bowen as a striker: “Jarrod is learning his trade and there are parts that he doesn’t do that an out-and-out number nine does. But whenever we go to buy a striker they are too expensive or we can’t get one and there aren’t many around.

“He played a bit at centre-forward for Hull. I can tell; I can see it in his eyes, he has that smell of the goal. I think he is probably disappointed to not get his goal. he is starting to get that look in his eye that he wants to score. He is a great finisher and he is a lot braver in the air than people give him credit for.”

On the January transfer window: “The injuries will always play a part. I don’t think we have a great lot of cash. January is never an easy window. We need to see how the window is. It will be a loss for us with Kudus going to the Africa Cup of Nations. He has been brilliant for us.”

2024 aspirations: “We are not one of the top teams. We are trying to get up and grow the team. For West Ham to be in Europe is a great target.”

“Football is played in many ways and tonight we’ve done the stuff that isn’t talked about so much. We had a brilliant defensive performance; well organised and well disciplined. We have to play 50 or 60 games in a season and sometimes you have to watch how you are going to play teams and we’ve done a good job on Arsenal tonight.

“They had lots of the ball - too much for my liking - but ultimately we’ve done a great job in keeping them from scoring.”

On the first half of the season: “We’ve had an unbelievable year. After the World Cup, we’ve picked up and the team has got better. We sold one of our best players to Arsenal during that time and continued our form. We won a trophy last year as well so it’s been really good.”

“I think we deserved much more than what we got today. We tried and tried and tried but the difference was in the two boxes. They had two shots and scored two goals and we had 30 shots and didn’t score. We had big, big chances but that’s the difference in the Premier League - if you want to win games you have to make it count in both boxes and today we haven’t done

“I have to praise the players because they tried until the end but we could not get what we deserved.”

On West Ham’s first goal: I don’t know [if it was out] - I haven’t seen it but everybody is saying ‘is the technology good enough to understand what it is’. That is probably the question. We all want the best technology so the decisions are clear. Today it was inconclusive with the technology that we have so probably that is something we can improve.”

On his assist: “Throughout the week I’ve got four or five lads coming up to me and telling me where they want me to deliver it. I’ve got a lot of options and it’s something we work on a lot. It’s a bit tedious at times but it’s worth it when you get the results like that

“We don’t get too many corners in the game so it’s about making sure my practice is specific and not overloading it. We only had two tonight so I had to make sure it [the delivery] was on the money.”

On the club’s ambitions for 2024: “I think we’ve given ourselves a really good start to the league after the first half and you never know what could happen but it’s the old cliché that we can’t get too carried away. We have to keep applying ourselves in the right way and who knows where the season could take us.”

“It’s a fantastic atmosphere [in the dressing room] and great to be part of a historic win for us.

“Looking at the club on the outside before I joined I’ve always associated it with a hard work with people who love the club and that married up with my values. So, it’s been great to be part of a group that wants to work hard. When you do that good things come and we showed that tonight.”

“It’s one of those nights. We had a lot of chances and did enough to score some goals but in the box we were not good enough. We take the good things and learn from the things we didn’t do well.

“We created enough and had some big chances. We’re together as a team. It’s not about some players [not scoring]. We have to improve in front of the goal and it’s down to the whole team to do that.

On the first West Ham goal: “I guess it was a close call [whether the ball was in play or out]. Hopefully, they have made the right call there. Still after that we had enough chances to win the game.”

On where Arsenal are at the halfway stage: “It’s not bad. We’re up there and fighting. We are aiming to be better every day. We learned a lot from last season and gained some experience, and hopefully, we can use that through to the end of this season.”

“I think the work from everyone was amazing. The team was sprit was great and we worked very well defensively”

On his goal: “It’s the best moment to score my first goal for West Ham and in the Premier League. We work a lot on the set-pieces, so it was great.

“It is an important win for everyone and for our boss. We are really happy.”