Arsenal's title challenge is now officially over, surely. Maybe not mathematically, as Arsene Wenger likes to insist, but for all other intents and purposes, it is going to be either Leicester City or Tottenham who lift the Premier League title this season.
In a cannot-take-your-eyes-off-it game at the Boleyn Ground, Arsenal threw away a 2-0 lead, before fighting back to draw 3-3 with West Ham.
After getting off to a brilliant start in the first half an hour or so, with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez scoring two wonderfully-taken goals, Arsenal completely lost the plot in the final five minutes of the first half, allowing Andy Carroll to make it 2-2, before losing it further early in the second, as the same West Ham striker completed his hat-trick.
Laurent Koscielny netted in the 70th minute to make it 3-3, giving Arsenal hope of completing the comeback by turning the draw into a victory, but both teams ran out of petrol in the end.
The draw means the gap to Leicester City is now ten points, with each team left with six games to play. No matter what Wenger might believe, this title race has ended in a whimper for Arsenal, and questions need to be asked at the end of the season. West Ham stay alive in their race for a top four place, even if they would have preferred all three points, just to put the pressure back in Manchester City and Manchester United.
Ozil was all smiles in the 18th minute of the game, as he got in behind the West Ham defence to slot in past Adrian. Seventeen minutes later, Sanchez did the same, running onto a nice lob from Alex Iwobi to make it 2-0.
However, Arsenal allowed West Ham to come back in, in the space of three minutes, with Carroll scoring a couple of goals, one with his head and the other with his left foot to give the home team the belief they could come away with a win in this match, let alone a draw.
That win looked likely too as Carroll rose high at the back post to head in another cross – Arsenal just kept allowing West Ham to rain in cross after cross – with Gabriel heading the ball off David Ospina's hands and into the net.
Arsenal did come back rather well, with Koscielny striking one into the roof of the net from six yards out, but a fourth was needed for this season to still mean anything for the North London side, and it was not to be.
Also catch the highlights of the match HERE
