WEST Ham United capitalized on two mistakes from Arsenal’s new goalkeeper Petr Cech to claim a surprise 2-0 victory at the Emirates and bring the Gunners’ early Premier League optimism down to earth with a bump Sunday.

    Tipped to be title challengers this season and coming off a 1-0 win over champion Chelsea in the Community Shield, Arsenal failed to create clear chances against a well-organized West Ham defense under new manager Slaven Bilic.

    The London derby was briefly interrupted in the 75th after a nasty clash of heads in the area between Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud and West Ham defender James Tomkins. Both men were given immediate attention by team medical staff and both players saw the game out to the end.

    Widely seen as one of the best moves of the pre-season transfer market so far, Cech’s arrival for a reported fee of about 11 million pounds (US$17.3 million) is designed to strengthen Arsenal bid for a first league title since 2004.

    However, the 33-year-old goalkeeper was caught out just before the break when Dimitri Payet sent a free kick into the area. Cech decided to race off his line and try to clear the danger but Kouyate got to the ball first and sent a glancing header into an unguarded Arsenal net.

    (SD-Agencies)