When we played Arsenal back in December at Upton Park, despite the capitulation at Chelsea two days earlier many of us were confident of getting a result. Today, however, you would have been more than a little hard pressed to find anyone even remotely hopeful of a draw. Enner Valencia was brutally attacked by his Royal Doulton, and James Tomkins added himself to an already impressive list of West Ham players to miss action due to a shoulder separation. If I were Vaz Te, I’d be mighty worried about my club record for crocked shoulders. I had pretty much written the whole thing off before my first cup of coffee. As it turned out, that was the correct attitude.
When the starting lineups were announced, there were plenty of moans and groans on Twitter when Theo Walcott appeared on Arsenal’s teamsheet. Considering that Walcott has scored more goals against us than any other team, fear was an appropriate emotion. In the opening minutes of the game those fears were almost, and likely should have been realized. Ozil fed Walcott in the area with a lovely little flick, sending Walcott in alone on Adrian. But for some reason, instead of shooting Walcott paused. That split second allowed James Collins to get a foot in and clear the ball. Initially, it looked like a world class tackle from Ginge. Replays, however, showed we were lucky not be a goal and a possibly a man down.
Alex Song’s dip in form has been written, spoken, and tweeted about endlessly. In the 13th minute, Arsenal began a spell of possession and pressure that all started with a careless pass from our loanee. First, Giroud curled in a cross intended for Sanchez but Kouyate headed it out for a corner. A minute later Chambers tried to send a cross in for Sanchez, and this one found its man but his shot was tipped around the post by Adrian.
Matt Jarvis might be the most maligned player on West Ham. Even more so than Kevin Nolan. But he showed a willingness to make the most of his opportunity with a nice spell midway through the half. In the 22nd minute, Noble played a great through ball down the left that Jarvis was able to run down. He then sent a beauty of a cross to the top of the 18 yard box for Nolan, who sent a side footed volley right at Ospina. A few minutes later Jarvis again beat his man down the left, passed to Cresswell who tried to find Sakho with a cross only for Koscielny to head it away.
In the 27th minute Arsenal again should opened the scoring when Chambers returned the favor to Jarvis by beating him down the flank. Chambers sent a cross into the box where Ramsey was waiting. He attempted to one time the pass, but the ball was too low for his head and too high for his foot. He appeared to connect with the ball on his thigh. Wherever the ball struck Ramsey, it forced a great save from Adrian.
Theo Walcott had another chance to challenge Adrian mano a mano in the 33rd minute when Ramsey slipped a through ball past Kouyate and Cresswell to him. With Collins baring down on him, Walcott fired his shot right at Adrian. A minute later, Chambers and Ozil played a one-two that ended with the Arsenal right back sending in a cross to Sanchez. His volley was denied by Adrian who pushed the ball out for a corner. From the resulting set play, Sanchez picked up a yellow for handling the ball inside the box.
When West Ham lost to Arsenal in December, it’s hard not to wonder what would have happened if we hadn’t given up two goals in the final five minutes of the first half. So when the last minutes of the first half were upon us today, the chance to go into halftime at nil-nil looked promising. In the 43rd minute, that chance seemed to slip away when Ozil picked up a pass from Ramsey outside the box and sent a through ball to Sanchez. Adrian stopped Sanchez’s shot, but the rebound fell right to Theo Walcott. With the whole net in front of him and at his mercy, he slipped and sent the ball over the crossbar. The halftime finish line was there.
And then it wasn’t.
In the dying seconds of added time, Ozil fed the ball to Ramsey inside the penalty area. Giroud took the ball over from his teammate, cut back inside and fired the ball high into the far corner.
Arsenal 1, West Ham 0.
Statistically, the start of the second half didn’t bring much promise for West Ham. In the last 42 games that Arsenal led at halftime, they had only lost one. But for a little while, the Hammers looked capable of becoming the second. In the 49th minute Jarvis beat Monreal down the right and sent an inviting cross to Sakho. Ospina tried to reach the ball before Sakho but didn’t quite get there, colliding with the lone healthy West Ham striker before Koscielny cleared the ball away.
West Ham then enjoyed a good spell of possession and pressure. Song picked up the ball in midfield and fed Downing, who then slipped a good pass to Sakho. Chambers was beaten, but to his credit Koscielny stepped up to put Sakho offside. Minutes later Downing collected the ball inside the area and tried to cross to Sakho, but Mertesacker blocked the pass. Shouts of hand ball were shown to be incorrect as the ball hit Mertesacker in the thigh.
The 59th minute provided a little bit of humorous irony. Nolan sent a long pass down the right side for Sakho. With nobody coming up to support him, he was still able to earn West Ham a corner. When the cameras turned to Sam, you could see him motioning to his charges to get up there and help. In my imagination, I could hear the other West Ham players saying “but gaffer, you told us never to cross over the center line”. The corner ended up in front of Jarvis, but his shot went over the bar from point blank range.
In the 68th minute, the gods seemed to grant West Ham a reprieve when Ozil received a pass from Giroud inside the penalty area. But instead of shooting with the goal right in front of him, he chipped a pass across the box to Walcott, who cheated it down for Ramsey. His shot went wide of the goal, and West Ham were let off the hook.
But not for long.
In the 81st minute, Arsenal won a throw deep in West Ham territory. Chambers throw went to Ramsey, who then played a one-two with Giroud before smashing the ball past Adrian to double the Gunners lead. They tripled it minutes later when Cazorla and Giroud combined before Cazorla sent a ball across the goal mouth that Flamini tapped in.
Arsenal 3, West Ham 0.
Emotionally, it can be helpful to point a finger at something when results don’t go your way. The officials robbed us. Sam’s tactics cost us. For most of the game, West Ham made a good account of themselves. Until Arsenal’s second we looked like we had an equalizer in is if we got a little rub of the green. But at the end of the day, we lost because Arsenal are a better team than West Ham. They played like a top four club, and we played like a tenth place club. As odd as it may sound, I can accept that for now, and today won’t bug me that much. I still have a good feeling about where we are going.
It’s just going to take time to get there.