Morning all.
I think I’m still in shock over the way yesterday’s game played out. 4-0 up including a rare award of a penalty and then in two swift moments, West Ham halved the deficit. Another Arsenal penalty given by Anthony Taylor and that was that for the first half, and the game as it turned out as no more goals came for either side.
Mikel Arteta on Arsenal.com:
> I think the first 30 minutes was spectacular. The quality, the understanding, the purpose and how the boys played and competed, it was second to none. You score three great goals, take control of the game, score the fourth one and then, we could probably not maintain that level.
>
> We conceded a very sloppy goal, take the kick-off, backwards, concede the free-kick, 4-2 and suddenly it’s like, game on. “But after that the fifth goal gives us a lot of composure and control in the second half, we could play a very different game that was much suited for us than the game they wanted to play.
Arsenal took control of the game from the start and poor old West Ham couldn’t do a thing about it. When our opener came, it was nothing more than deserved. Bukayo Saka whipped a corner in, Gabriel nodded home. I’ve made it sound simple. It wasn’t. There was chat, preparation and so much accuracy from both players involved in the goal.
I’m sure when I was younger, much younger, football fans used to sing “you thought you had scored, you did not” or something similar and that’s exactly what happened to West Ham. Crysencio Summerville lofted the ball over David Raya and into the net but the offside flag soon put a stop to any celebrations.
Bukayo Saka tried one with his left foot but it drifted just wide of the target but it wasn’t too long before he set up our second. How unselfish he’s was too after Martin Odegaard lifted his pass over the defence and into his path. He could have shot but spotted both Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard in the middle so squared his pass instead. Havertz missed it but Trossard made no mistake.
Our third was a rare thing because it came from the penalty spot. We don’t often get awarded penalties but when Saka was chopped down, Anthony Taylor didn’t hesitate to point to the spot. Odegaard stepped up and buried it into the corner of the goal.
Goal number four came less than two minutes later, my favourite of the night I think. A wonderful pass from Trossard for Havertz to run onto and as Fabianski came out to close him down, Havertz slipped his shot round him and into the net.
West Ham looked down and out, their fans started walking out. Then out of nowhere really, the home team scored. Soler played a lovely ball through our defence into the path of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and his shot beat David Raya at his near post. I doubt the Spaniard will enjoy watching that one again. Two minutes later it was 2-4. West Han were awarded a free kick just outside our penalty area, why I don’t know because there was no foul but even so, Emerson fired his shot into the top of the net. West Ham suddenly came alive, their fans started thought of nicking a point at least running through their minds no doubt.
However, from another Saka corner which Gabriel rose to head, we were awarded another penalty as Fabianski, whilst trying to punch the ball clear, totally missed his target and punched Gabriel in the head instead. Taylor didn’t give it to start with but after a few seconds, blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Saka took this one and despite Fabianski getting a hand to the ball, it was 2-5.
Half-time came and went but Gabriel didn’t reappear for the second half, on in his place came Jakub Kiwior. Around ten minutes later, Riccardo Calafiori had to be replaced too with Oleksandr Zinchenko coming into the team and before the final whistle blew, Saka, Odegaard and Trossard were replaced by Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri. Both Sterling and Jesus smashed a shot into the side netting and up the other end, Danny Ings saw his chance drift just wide of the far post when he looked almost certain to score.
A 5-2 win away from home is a cracking result. Their first goal was a disappointing one to concede but in the end, it didn’t matter.
Lastly, Mikel Arteta also said post match:
> We had to make changes and everybody comes in, we lost big players again yesterday, nobody is really affected. Jorginho comes in, he was outstanding I think, Jakub has to come in at half time, the same, Alex, very good. Now we’ve got some momentum, the energy is high, enjoy tonight, watch a beautiful game of football tomorrow, get ready to go again on Wednesday.
Not sure about a beautiful game today Mikel, I’d rather it be a tough and physical battle with red cards galore which ends in a draw.
Catch up in the comments..