"Why did you choke the goalkeeper's neck?" 95th-minute equalizer disallowed in a disaster → Tottenham smiled... West Ham suffers 0-1 defeat to top Arsenal, now "on the verge of relegation"

*This content was translated by AI.

Tottenham smiled thanks to their 'London rival' Arsenal.

On the 11th (Korea time), Arsenal secured a 1-0 away victory against West Ham in the 36th round of the '2025-2026 English Premier League (EPL)' at London Stadium in London, England, thanks to a winning goal by Leandro Trossard.

As a result, Arsenal extended their lead over second-place Manchester City, which has one game in hand and 74 points, to five points with 79 points (24 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses), maintaining a favorable position in the title race.

Meanwhile, West Ham, which desperately needs to escape the relegation zone, remained in 18th place with 36 points (9 wins, 9 draws, 18 losses). They failed to narrow the gap with 17th-place Tottenham, which is also in the relegation battle and has 37 points. If Tottenham, which has one game in hand, wins against Leeds United on the 12th, the point gap will widen to four points.

Arsenal struggled in an away match on this day. In the 37th minute of the second half, with the score tied at 0-0, Trossard received a pass from Martin Ødegaard and took a shot that deflected off West Ham defender Tomáš Souček, resulting in the winning goal.

However, there was also a moment where Arsenal breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the match. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Callum Wilson of West Ham appeared to score an equalizer from a corner kick, sending the home stadium into a frenzy of excitement. But referee Chris Kavanagh disallowed the goal after a video review (VAR) lasting 2 minutes and 35 seconds. This was because West Ham's Pablo fouled Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya by wrapping his arms around Raya's neck to hinder a punch.

Mark Halsey, a former EPL referee, stated that the referee's decision was correct. He explained, "More than 10 fouls occurred during the corner kick challenge, but Pablo clearly hindered Raya, and Jean-Clair Todibo also pulled Raya's jersey. The refereeing team made an accurate call despite immense pressure."

Arsenal's performance on this day was different from usual. They dominated the match until the 20th minute of the first half, but began to falter sharply after defender Ben White was forced off due to injury. Midfielder Declan Rice moved to the right defense, causing Arsenal to lose control of the midfield, and they barely avoided a goal thanks to a crucial save by goalkeeper Raya.

Nevertheless, Arsenal managed to secure three points despite their shaky performance. With this valuable victory, Arsenal now needs only two more wins to achieve league self-reliance for the first time in 20 years.

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*This content was translated by AI.