West Ham United 1 - 3 Arsenal: Better performance, good win, still things to work on

Nobody likes to play against a team managed by Sam Allardyce, or against a team packed full of physical and tall players. Especially not when the team's ability to set-pieces has been dodgy at best in the last couple of games. Arsenal certainly have the quality to play West Ham off the park, but there were justifiable doubts about our ability to win the game due to our weakness being West Ham's strength.

There were a couple of question marks about who would start. With three centre backs to choose from, Wenger restored Mertesacker to the line-up to play alongside the recently maligned Vermaelen. Ramsey, after an impressive cameo in mid-week, got the nod over Coquelin in the centre of midfield while Giroud, also after an impressive showing in mid-week, got another chance up front while Gervinho slotted in at right wing at the expense of Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arsenal dominate the play, but go in level at half-time

The first half can be easily labelled as "typical Arsenal". The passing and the movement were fantastic but there was a lack of cutting edge to the play. Frustratingly enough, our crossing was poor and whenever we managed to create a good crossing opportunity there was, at most, only one player in the box and he wasn't Olivier Giroud.

At the other end, we predictably struggled against Andy Carroll. West Ham wasted no time in exploiting Carroll's prowess in the air and he won the vast majority of his aerial challenges. Fortunately, Arsenal's defenders were canny enough to ensure they picked up the second ball.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a set-piece that we conceded, but a great goal from Diame that could have been avoided. As Diame has the ball in the left-hand channel, Ramsey goes out to meet him but gets beaten far, far too easily. Diame then finds himself with acres of room to finish brilliantly in the far corner. Fantastic goal aside, Mertesacker was far too narrow in his positioning and should have gone out to mark in the danger area. See, the big German isn't infallible.

Not too surprisingly, Arsenal scored when their striker actually got himself into the penalty area. Giroud started the move by playing a good ball out wide to Podolski. The German drove down the line and whipped a lovely cross for Giroud, who got in between West Ham's centre backs, to tap-in. Not a very typical Arsenal goal, but a textbook example of what can happen when you actually take a chance in the box.

West Ham should have gone in at half-time 2-1 up. Carroll won the ball from a free-kick and Nolan was left alone at the back post. Jenkinson had been ball watching and wasn't aware that Nolan was there. Fortunately, he shot wide of the post.

Struggle to control game, but deadly on the counter

The second half was strange, in that West Ham had ended up with over 70% of the ball. Why this happened is fairly simple: the gap between our backline and midfield was too big. West Ham exploited this by pushing higher up. When Carroll inevitably won the ball in the air, there was hardly anyone around to contest the second ball and when Arsenal did get the ball back, there were barely any options.

This also explains why players like Diame and Nolan often found themselves with acres of room behind our midfield.

With West Ham higher up the field, there was a possibility they could be exploited by a pacey player. Enter Theo Walcott.

Arsenal actually successfully defended a set-piece and Cazorla played a brilliant pass to set Giroud away. Giroud played the perfect pass into Walcott, who took one touch and finished early with the composure and skill of a seasoned striker.

The goal seemed to settle our nerves a bit and we started to play better. The proceedings were wrapped up when Cazorla fired one in from distance. It's something he's been threatening to do since he's joined and it was thoroughly deserved, given his performance on the night.

Things to work on

The win turned out to be a very good one. We had to come back from behind and really work for it and that tells us a lot about the character in the team. We can say that this team can and will respond to setbacks.

There are, though, things that need working on.

To start off with, when Arsenal attack, they tend to neglect one flank. Today, Podolski was heavily involved but Gervinho barely saw the ball. It may be worth changing up the play the bit and getting the other winger more involved in the game in order to make us a better incisive attacking side.

Defending has come on leaps and bounds but recently we haven't had the level of concentration and work rate that we saw earlier in the season. We're leaking goals again, making some basic errors again and not seeing a good defensive shape like we were before. And that's just from open play. Set-piece defending is certainly a mixed bag; marking, in particular, looks to be an area that needs a lot more work.

Finally, the midfield is beginning to look a little undisciplined and it's having adverse effects on our defending and our ability to retain possession. Not helped, of course, by the loss of Diaby.

By sorting out those issues, we could elevate ourselves to a higher level. We're going to have to, as our league rivals are beginning to shape up after dodgy starts.

Pefect title Jay, there's room for improvement like always but our 2nd half could be an indication of things to come.

Walcott finally had a positive impact on the game and Wenger subs finally made some sense.

All in all 3 points in the bag, hopefully Norwich will be just as easy.

Buzzing now. Knew the Cazorla long-range effort was coming for some time as was Giroud's goal. He still can't master the short range one on one

Very good mentally to stay in the game and deflect countless counter attacks and look lethal on the other end. Mertesacker

That was sweet. I'll take as many of those from Cazorla as he wants to score. Nice to see Giroud have such a good game too.

Giroud and Theo were really good today, and Cazorla's goal was orgasmic. The one area we were dominated was in the air. Very happy to win what was a really tough game though

Made it difficult for ourselves but a good win here. Gervinho was shit, Ramsey blew hot and cold. Poldi,Giroud,Cazorla were class. Our defending in midfield was very poor, Diame and Nolan easily went passed our midfield 3. Hopefully Gibbo's injury is not serious

I wish Theo would play like that with some consistency. And while it wasn't perfect, it was a nice win. West Ham has built a decent team.

Great win in tough ground

Spoiler:

i thought if caz was in those gerv positions when he came infeild he could even cause more damage

i was thinking at least coquelin would be more aggressive but Ramsey offers far more in final 3rd

Godolski created 6 chances could even score himself

Lukas Posolski created 6 chances from open play today. Only Cazorla v Sunderland & Vaz Te v Fulham have created more in a game this season

Our 2nd half.

Mikel Arteta attempted 111 passes with a 96% completion rate

did anyone see Dowd penalty decision ??

I really liked Arsenal today. I liked the balance of the team once Theo came on. Will write up my feelings after MOTD.

if it wasnt 3 pts we would be all talking about that and of course Diame could receive his second yellow as well

Completed the first post.

PS. Down is terrible.

this is the 3rd time that we have conceded first

thanks Jay great write up as always

Attack sides


Gervinho had 25 touches compared to Godolski's 55
Gibbo and santos had 75 combined,68 for Jenko


Loved the way Godolski tried to set up team mates

urbaNRoots wrote:One thought: Gibbs needs desperately to improve his crossing, otherwise he's been very good.

Gibbo just hits it and hope which is a shame because he gets forward well.

Both Jenko and Gibbo can put in some decent crosses they just need to find some consistency

Jenkinson crossing is good, the problem is there is not enough body in the box for him to aim.

Podolski was raping that left flank today, omg.

Stan Collymore: "If there's a better signing in the Premier League this summer than Santi Cazorla, then I haven't seen him."