Arsenal (1) 2 v 0 (0) West Ham Unted
38 Rice
67 Saka
Yellows: none Summerville, Paqueta Ref. John Brooks
Played Saturday 4 October 2025 at The Emirates Stadium, attendance 60,181.
This was a routine win for Arsenal but a good way for Mikel Arteta to celebrate his 300th match as a Premier League (PL) coach. It was the first Premier London Derbies (PLDs) match for Nuno Espirito Santo with West Ham but the result was surely expected. The result took The Gunners to the top of the PL table with 16 points from 7 games courtesy of Chelsea’s 2-1 home win over Liverpool. There was good news for England with the scorers being Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka who will in all probability be two of England’s “main men” in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Finals. Saka played his 200th PL game and has scored 55 goals with 45 assists making a very creditable 50% “strike rate”. The only issue for Arsenal was another injury to Captain Martin Odegaard – hopefully minor.
After 7 PL matches we are now into the second International Break of which there are four in addition to the June end of season one which in 2026 will be the final preparations for the World Cup. Next season there will be a three week break in October for four matches and not one in September. This will give an extra week for the League season but will it be used to ease fixture congestion or for yet another competition?
Which brings us to the question of intensity of matches and increasing injuries. Is it the ever increasing number of matches, particularly for successful Clubs, or the intensity of playing styles and training methods? Everyone wants to see the best players at their Club but if they come back from Internationals injured and jet lagged who wins? Some players get few injuries in long careers and others seem to collect them. There is no easy answer but the probability is the more minutes the more risk.
Until next time, enjoy your football, Andrew at premierlondonderbies.com