73rd time lucky! Arsenal become first 'big-four' team to lose at home to David Moyes as Gunners stumble to West Ham

The Gunners were stunned at their backyard on Thursday evening as they suffered a surprise 2-0 home defeat to the Hammers. Tomas Soucek's controversial opener put the visitors in front in the 13th minute and former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos scored the insurance goal from a corner to ensure that Moyes finally broke his hoodoo against a big-four team in an away fixture.

In 72 previous attempts, against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, Moyes had not emerged triumphant once and the three points could not have come at a better time as it saw them leapfrog the Red Devils in the standings to sixth place.

Arsenal had taken an unprecedented 77 touches in the opposition penalty area without scoring which highlights West Ham's defensive resilience. Mavropanos and Angelo Ogbonna hardly put a foot wrong in a daunting venue and they were ably supported by their teammates as the Gunners failed to find a way through the jungle of bodies in West Ham's penalty box.

Speaking to Amazon Prime Sport after the match, Moyes said: "Football is played in many ways and tonight, we did the bit that isn't talked about as much. We had a brilliant defensive performance, well-organised and well-disciplined. We have to play 50 or 60 games in a season and sometimes you have to watch how you're going to play teams and we did a good job on Arsenal tonight. They had lots of the ball, too much for my liking, but ultimately we did a great job in stopping them from scoring."

Moyes earned his first-ever away victory against Arsenal in the 23rd attempt across all competitions.

West Ham boast of picking up nine points in their last three fixtures and will look to continue their momentum when they host Brighton on January 2 at London Stadium.