Match Report: West Ham United 0-2 Arsenal
|Arsenal took on West Ham knowing that their title rivals Manchester United and Chelsea had earlier dropped vital Premier League points.
The surprise team news was that Emmanuel Adebayor rested to the bench following his midweek Champions League exploits while Nicklas Bendtner, Alex Song, and Mikael Silvestre were all handed starts.
West Ham:
Green
Faubert – Collins – Upson – Ilunga
Mullins – Parker – Bowyer – Di Michele
Bellamy – Cole
Arsenal Starting XI:
Almunia
Eboue – Gallas – Silvestre – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Song Billong – Nasri
Bendtner – Van Persie
First Half
For West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola, who presided over two wins in his first two league games in charge, the honeymoon is over but his sides attacking threat certainly didn’t fizzle out during the 90 minutes in east London.
In the 20th minute, Theo Walcott showed the Upton Parkfaithful what he’s all about with a pulsating run.
The England forward set off near the half-way line and beat two defenders only for the crossbar to thwart what would have been a magnificent goal, although some would argue he should have passed to his team-mates waiting in the box.
Walcott had another chance five minutes later when a delightful Cesc Fabregas chip found Van Persie, who put Walcott through only for the teenager to be denied by Green’s instinctive save.
But the best chance of the half arguably fell to West Ham striker Craig Bellamy who would have scored with a low strike into the corner had it not been for Manuel Almunia’s protruding left foot.
Arsenal were susceptible to the West Ham counter-attack, with Bellamy’s pace in particular posing problems, but it was the Gunners who were the more threatening as the first half came to a close.
Second Half
In the second half, Van Persie’s 25-yard strike tested Green and the striker rattled the post with a venomous free-kick before Faubert’s error gave Arsenal the advantage.Goal: Julien Faubert (75, o.g) – West Ham United 0-1 Arsenal
Dutchman van Persie drifted in and out of the game but made a massive impression during the second half with some fine goalward efforts.
Adebayor got the goal his cameo deserved when the visitors broke free with Bendtner putting his strike-partner through with a pass from deep inside his own half.Goal: Emmanuel Adebayor (90) – West Ham United 0-2 Arsenal
A throughly deserved goal for the Gunners, and a goal worthy of winning any game.
West Ham’s woe was then compounded when striker Cole was harshly shown a straight red in the dying seconds for a sliding tackle on Song.
The result sends Arsenal to one point behind Hull in the Premier League table while the Hammers have now lost three on the bounce in the league.
Next up, the north London derby against Sp*rs.
With thanks to BBC Football.
A bit short
I have to applaud Wenger for finally making some offensive changes in time to make a difference. At first, when I saw Ade standing on the sidelines about ready to substitute in, I feared a simple substitute for Bendtner (although he had earned as much).
We looked absolute dynamite once Nik drifted outside left, Diaby went inside, and Van Persie seemed to be outside right. Cheers to Gallas, Alumnia, and Song – outstanding performances. Eboue was woeful in the second half with shocking passes and Silvestre was not much better with poor marking. Keep Denilson on the bench please, Arsene. Go on you Gooners!
If we’re not going to use that 90 million pound bonus, we should invest that money into a time machine so we can pluck gems like Robert Green when they’re still obscure. Awesome display by him last night.
I thought Bendtner played a really good game. But it’s strange to see him dropping so deep and so wide, when he’s probably better off up near the CBs shoulder.
Gallas was brilliant yesterday.
gotta say, credit to wenger for the subs. before the subs west ham looked more like scoring, but the substitions came, and arsenals goal was coming for about five minutes before faubert deflected the ball in. that said, arsenal survived several handball appeals and the game couldve been very, very different.