Eddie Nketiah scored an 85th minute winner as Arsenal left it late to beat West Ham.
The win means Arsenal have now won their first two Premier League games, but they were lucky to escape Emirates Stadium with all three points against the Hammers.
The Gunners were flying against Fulham last week, but they were off colour on Saturday night and never kicked on after Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring.
Michail Antonio duly equalised for West Ham just before half-time and they had chances to go ahead in the second-half, with Tomas Soucek hitting the bar.
In the end, however, it was Arsenal who grabbed a winner as Nketiah tapped home four minutes from time when Dani Ceballos rolled the ball across to him for an open goal.
Lacazette brings up the half century but still struggles
Last season, the issue with Lacazette was that he didn’t score enough goals – but his work off the ball and link-play made up for it.
Now, after two games into this new campaign, the role has reversed. Lacazette found the net against West Ham to bring up his half century of goals for the club and it was an emphatic header. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke down the right and, when his crossed picked Lacazette out, the Frenchman made no mistake.
It was a brilliant header, but other than that the striker failed to shine against West Ham. His usual link and hold-up play was not quite there and he was eventually replaced late on for match-winner Nketiah.
There shouldn’t be too many complaints with Lacazette, he does after all have two goals in two games now this season, but the concern will be whether that is coming at the detriment of his usually excellent play in transition.
Rice shines as captain in absence of Noble
With Mark Noble out of the side through injury, West Ham needed someone to step up and be a leader. Unsurprisingly, Declan Rice was given the armband and the midfielder rose to the occasion.
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The 21-year-old was everywhere for West Ham, throwing himself into tackles and acting as the ideal screen in front of their back-five. Every time you see Rice in a West Ham shirt you understand why the likes of Chelsea are so keen to snap him up.
Quite simply, he is the Hammers’ best player and his performance as skipper at the Emirates underlined why he is the obvious long-term successor to Noble. Rice’s display also emphasised why West Ham must really do all they can to keep him this season. He is the team’s heart and engine, and without him they just won’t be the same this year.
Arsenal’s slick left side struggles to click without Tierney
It is not often you would say the absence of a left-back had a critical impact on how a team functioned, but that was the case for Arsenal against West Ham.
Kieran Tierney was complaining of a tight hip in the warm-up and as such he was left out for Sead Kolasinac. The truth is Tierney plays an exceptionally specialist role for Arsenal – playing in a back-three when out of possession but becoming a left-back when in possession.
It is a role that requires extreme tactical discipline and mobility, and Kolasinac struggled to recreate what Tierney offers.
Ahead of him Bukayo Saka struggled too as he started in place of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Usually Arsenal’s left side is their biggest weapon, with Maitland-Niles and Tierney combining to feed Aubameyang.
Against West Ham, however, the new pairing of Saka and Kolasinac lacked chemistry and they failed to provide Arteta with the same weapons.
West Ham put Newcastle nightmare behind them as back-five excels
The knives were rightly out for West Ham after their poor start to the season against Newcastle United last week. The Hammers were too easily turned over by Steve Bruce’s side, on their own patch no less, and David Moyes wanted a reaction against Arsenal.
He got it and that was in no part down to his own decision to switch to a back-five, with Arthur Masuaku and Ryan Fredericks acting as the wing-backs. It was a tactical switch that offered West Ham solidity in defence, but crucially they carried a threat going forward.
Fredericks swiftly setup Antonio’s goal, while Masuaku whipped in countless dangerous balls from out left and deserved an assist.
At the back, Aaron Cresswell looked a natural on the left of a back-three. Moyes may well have found a new tactic, which on another night would have proved to be a winning formula.