Rarely can one small step in the right direction have felt so satisfying. At half-time the grim post-mortems were being prepared. Arsenal had been booed off by supporters who were starting to wonder if their team were sliding into a relegation battle and at that stage, with West Ham dominant, it was hard to see a way back.
Not so fast, though. Everything changed in the space of nine sensational second-half minutes. Arsenal took their inspiration from an 18-year-old rookie, levelling through Gabriel Martinelli, and that was the cue for Nicolas Pépé to demonstrate why he is worth £72m, conjuring a goal of the highest quality. Freddie Ljungberg’s players had shown their mettle and the interim coach had his first victory since stepping in for Unai Emery.
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