Arsenal took on West Ham in the Gunners' opening league game of the 2015/2016 season at the Emirates. The Hammers go back to East London with the three points as goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate earned a 2-0 win.
West Ham, with new signing Dimitri Payet, started the game well as they passed the ball around nicely. Arsenal took a few minutes to get going but caused problems for the visitors, with Noble and Ogbonna picking up two early yellow cards.
The first chance of the game fell to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but his shot went just over the bar. Slaven Bilic would have been happy with his side in the opening 12 minutes as they were not overrun by a talented Arsenal team. The Gunners looked as though they were trying to widen the play to get crosses into Olivier Giroud.
Ramsey saw a deflected effort come back off the bar, which was seen to be the best chance of the half. Another effort for the Welshman followed but could only miss the target.
Towards the 40th minute Arsenal looked as though they were beginning to control the game. The North London outfit created another chance for Giroud, who was offside but his effort was saved by Adrian anyway.
West Ham go two goals up at the Emirates
Despite apparent domination, West Ham took the lead in the 42nd minute after a Payet free-kick was headed in by Kouyate. Petr Cech could be classed as at fault for the goal, coming for the ball when he perhaps should have stayed between the sticks.
West Ham were well organised in the second half but also susceptible to an Arsenal attack. Ozil created a chance in the 54th minute for Giroud but his effort went just wide while West Ham looked comfortable.
West Ham then doubled their lead as Zarate scored from 25-yards out, which fooled Cech in the Arsenal goal. The new arrival was left flat-footed as the West Ham man turned and shot towards goal in an instant. Santi Cazorla and Laurent Koscielny were slow to close him down and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Sanchez came on for Arsenal in place of Debuchy, which signaled the intent of Arsene Wenger. Koscielny then headed back towards Cech without seeing Sakho, but Cech cooly claimed the ball. There was a nasty clash of heads between Giroud and Tomkins, with both needing attention.
Arsenal fans thought they had scored through Chamberlain but his effort hit the side netting. West Ham dealt with everything Arsenal threw at them. Even when Sanchez carves out a chance it was easily saved.