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West Ham United 3-3 Arsenal

By Phil CartwrightBBC Sport
Andy Carroll
Andy Carroll became the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick against Arsenal since Wayne Rooney in 2011

Andy Carroll's hat-trick dealt another blow to Arsenal's already slim Premier League title hopes, despite the Gunners fighting back to draw at West Ham.

Arsenal are 10 points behind leaders Leicester with six games to play.

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez converted Alex Iwobi passes to put Arsenal 2-0 up but Carroll netted twice in 160 seconds to bring his side level by half-time.

A far-post header completed Carroll's treble, before Laurent Koscielny hooked in the equaliser from 10 yards.

The hosts extended their unbeaten home run in the Premier League to 14 games but Slaven Bilic's side remain sixth, two points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, who play West Bromwich Albion at 17:30 BST.

West Ham 3-3 Arsenal as it happened

Hammers' hat-trick hero

Striker Carroll was rarely far from the action in a pulsating London derby, being booked as early as the fourth minute for a needless late tackle on Koscielny.

There appeared little way back for West Ham as clinical finishes from Ozil and Sanchez gave the visitors a two-goal cushion, but England international Carroll would turn the game in his side's favour in the space of eight minutes either side of the interval.

All three goals were typical Carroll efforts, the first a powerful far-post header from Aaron Cresswell's left-wing cross, while he was awarded too much space by the Arsenal defence to fire in the equaliser at the second attempt during first-half stoppage time.

The ex-Newcastle forward was perhaps lucky to escape further punishment when he clashed with Gabriel in the air, catching the centre-back with his arm, shortly before rising above Hector Bellerin to head past David Ospina - who had kept his place in the Arsenal goal ahead of Petr Cech.

Andy Carroll
Andy Carroll netted all three of his goals at the far post from crosses. However, he won only eight of his 20 duels with Arsenal players and just five of his 12 aerial duels (41.7%)

Arsenal's title hopes over?

Wins over Everton and Watford either side of the March international break kept any faint hopes of a title success alive for Arsene Wenger's side.

Having led 2-0 after 35 minutes, this result will feel like two points dropped for Arsenal, even though they responded well to Carroll's quick hat-trick and were decent value for their draw.

The Gunners have a favourable run-in, with five of their last six opponents currently in the bottom half of the table - but it will take a remarkable collapse from Leicester and Tottenham above them if they are to win an unlikely title.

Saturday's result did little to improve Arsenal's record in London derbies this season - they have taken only six points from seven games against other clubs from the capital.

Man of the match: Andy Carroll (West Ham)

Andy Carroll
Carroll had 10 of West Ham's 16 shots - no player has had more in a Premier League match this season

What the managers said

Andy Carroll best in the world at heading - Bilic

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic: "I am so proud of my team to come back like that before half-time and then to be better than them in the second half.

"Now Andy is fit and we hope he will stay fit. There aren't many players capable of doing what he is doing.

"I'm proud of everything. We were spectacular. But the only thing I'm not happy about is the result."

Wenger praises resilience after 'crazy' draw

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "We are third on 59 points and that's not where we want to be.

"We have made it much more difficult to have a chance to win the championship but no matter, we have to keep going.

"You never know what will happen, and we have clubs chasing us as well, so we have to be serious and focus on finishing as high as possible."

The stats you need to know

  • Carroll's hat-trick was the fastest in the Premier League this season at seven minutes and 14 seconds.
  • The Hammers are unbeaten in their past 14 home games (won seven, drawn seven) - the longest current run in the top flight.
  • Alex Iwobi has scored twice and assisted another two goals in his first three league starts for Arsenal.
  • This is the first time in the Premier League since November 2012 (v Fulham) that Arsenal have led by two goals and failed to win the match. That game also ended 3-3.

What's next?

West Ham switch their attentions to the FA Cup on Wednesday when they host Manchester United in a quarter-final replay, while their next Premier League fixture is at leaders Leicester four days later.

Also on 17 April, Arsenal host Crystal Palace in another London derby.

Line-ups

West Ham

Formation 3-4-2-1

  • 13Adrián
  • 5TomkinsSubstituted forEmenikeat 45'minutes
  • 2Reid
  • 21Ogbonna
  • 30AntonioBooked at 90mins
  • 8Kouyaté
  • 16Noble
  • 3Cresswell
  • 28Lanzini
  • 27Payet
  • 9CarrollBooked at 4mins

Substitutes

  • 1Randolph
  • 11E Valencia
  • 14Obiang
  • 20Moses
  • 29Emenike
  • 33Hendrie
  • 35Oxford

Arsenal

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 13Ospina
  • 24Bellerín
  • 5Gabriel
  • 6Koscielny
  • 18Monreal
  • 35ElnenySubstituted forGiroudat 68'minutes
  • 34CoquelinSubstituted forRamseyat 61'minutes
  • 17Sánchez
  • 11Özil
  • 45Iwobi
  • 23WelbeckSubstituted forWalcottat 81'minutes

Substitutes

  • 3Gibbs
  • 4Mertesacker
  • 12Giroud
  • 14Walcott
  • 16Ramsey
  • 21Chambers
  • 33Cech
Referee:
Craig Pawson
Attendance:
34,977

Match Stats

Home TeamWest HamAway TeamArsenal
Possession
Home39%
Away61%
Shots
Home19
Away11
Shots on Target
Home7
Away6
Corners
Home7
Away4
Fouls
Home11
Away8

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, West Ham United 3, Arsenal 3.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, West Ham United 3, Arsenal 3.

  3. Booking

    Michail Antonio (West Ham United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  4. Post update

    Mesut Özil (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  5. Post update

    Foul by Michail Antonio (West Ham United).

  6. Post update

    Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  7. Post update

    Foul by Winston Reid (West Ham United).

  8. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Manuel Lanzini (West Ham United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Emmanuel Emenike.

  9. Post update

    Attempt missed. Dimitri Payet (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Mark Noble.

  10. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Emmanuel Emenike (West Ham United) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Michail Antonio.

  11. Post update

    Offside, Arsenal. Alexis Sánchez tries a through ball, but Mesut Özil is caught offside.

  12. Substitution

    Substitution, Arsenal. Theo Walcott replaces Danny Welbeck.

  13. Post update

    Attempt missed. Winston Reid (West Ham United) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Andy Carroll following a corner.

  14. Post update

    Attempt missed. Andy Carroll (West Ham United) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Dimitri Payet with a cross following a corner.

  15. Post update

    Corner, West Ham United. Conceded by David Ospina.

  16. Post update

    Attempt saved. Aaron Cresswell (West Ham United) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Manuel Lanzini.

  17. Post update

    Attempt missed. Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Nacho Monreal with a cross.

  18. Post update

    Corner, West Ham United. Conceded by David Ospina.

  19. Post update

    Attempt saved. Dimitri Payet (West Ham United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.

  20. Post update

    Foul by Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).

As It Stood

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Leicester32209355312469
2Tottenham321711457253262
3Arsenal32178755332259
4Man City32176958332557
5Man Utd31158839271253
6West Ham321313652401252
7Southampton331481144341050
8Stoke32138113639-347
9Liverpool3012994641545
10Chelsea321111104942744
11Bournemouth33118144055-1541
12Swansea331010133442-840
13West Brom321010123139-840
14Everton31912105243939
15Watford32108143137-638
16Crystal Palace32107153542-737
17Norwich3387183557-2231
18Sunderland3169163655-1927
19Newcastle3267193261-2925
20Aston Villa3337232364-4116
View full Premier League table

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