Blast from the past
19th February 1977 – Leo Sayer was number one with ‘When I Need You’, Rocky was in UK cinemas and Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland died six days after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 58. Meanwhile, at Highbury, John Lyall’s West Ham United were sealing a 3-2 victory over Arsenal in front of 38,221 at Highbury.
Terry Neill’s side went in front when Mervyn Day couldn’t claim a corner from the right and future Hammer Liam Brady turned home Alan Hudson’s shot. The Irons levelled after 23 minutes when a sublime Trevor Brooking pass bisected the home defence to find Alan Taylor, a Hammers Highbury hero in an FA Cup quarter-final two years previously, who skipped past goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer and found the empty net. The visitors’ turnaround was complete before half-time when Brooking’s high, hanging free-kick was nodded back across goal by former Gunner John Radford for Billy Jennings to head past Rimmer.
Brady turned from goalscorer to goalmaker when he prodded a pass into the path of his fellow Dubliner Frank Stapleton, who fired beyond Day to level the game at two apiece. The Hammers were not to be denied though – Brooking was again involved in the build-up for the winning goal, finding Anton Otulakowski who played the ball on for the marauding Frank Lampard. The left-back’s cross from the byline was met by a bullet header from the diving Taylor to ensure another Highbury double for him and maximum points for the men from east London.
The Gunners would finish 8th in 1976/77, while the Hammers would end the campaign in 17th, two points and three places clear of relegation. Tottenham finished bottom and were relegated to the Second Division, while Liverpool won the league and European Cup. Manchester United won the FA Cup, with future Hammer Stuart Pearson scoring in the Final against Liverpool.
Arsenal: Jimmy Rimmer, Pat Rice, Richie Powling, Peter Simpson, Sammy Nelson, George Armstrong, Alan Hudson, Liam Brady, Trevor Ross, Malcolm MacDonald, Frank Stapleton.
West Ham United: Mervyn Day, Billy Bonds, Bill Green, Kevin Lock, Frank Lampard, Alan Devonshire, Trevor Brooking, Anton Otulakowski, John Radford, Billy Jennings, Alan Taylor.
Club Connections
A large group of players have turned out for Arsenal and West Ham United. Carl Jenkinson is back with the Gunners this year after spending the previous two campaigns on loan with the Hammers. Other players to have represented both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: Richard Wright, Manuel Almunia, Jim Standen.
Defenders: Eddie Hapgood, Matthew Upson, Nigel Winterburn, Bernard Joy, Bob Stevenson.
Midfielders: Liam Brady, Stewart Robson, Yossi Benayoun, Archie Macauley, Alex Song, David Bentley, Les Henley, James Bigden, Luis Boa Morte, Roddy McEachrane, Jimmy Jackson, Henri Lansbury, Fred Kemp, Fredrik Ljungberg.
Strikers: Bobby Gould, Jeremie Aliadiere, Jimmy Marshall, Kaba Diawara, Jimmy Bloomfield, Charlie Satterthwaite, Marouane Chamakh, Lee Chapman, Tom Lee, John Hartson, Ted Drake, John Radford, Ian Wright, Davor Suker, Stan Earle.
Ron Greenwood was also assistant manager at Arsenal before becoming manager of West Ham.
Today’s focus though falls on a former defender for both the Gunners and the Hammers. Steve Walford was born on the 5th January 1958 in Highgate and began his career as a centre-back at Tottenham in 1975.
After struggling to make it at White Hart Lane, Walford became part of a select club to swap Tottenham white for Arsenal red when Terry Neill signed the 19-year-old for £25,000 in 1977. He amassed 98 appearances in his four years under former Tottenham boss Neill, scoring four goals, and also featured as a late substitute in the 1979 FA Cup Final, when the Gunners beat Manchester United 3-2. Walford signed for former Hammer Ken Brown’s Norwich for £125,000 in March 1981 and experienced relegation and promotion with the Canaries.
After just over two seasons at Carrow Road, the 25-year-old Walford signed for John Lyall’s West Ham United in the summer of 1983 for £160,000. He made his debut at left-back in a 4-0 home win over Birmingham on 27th August 1983 and scored his first goal for the club in his next appearance two days later, the winner in a 1-0 victory at Everton. Walford made it two goals in his opening four appearances in claret and blue when he netted in a 3-1 home win over Leicester on 6th September 1983 but this would prove to be his final league goal for the club, despite this early flourish. The Hammers’ early season form in 1983/84 saw them top the First Division table throughout September but the club would fall away to finish ninth.
Walford would only score two more goals for the club, both in the League Cup second round tie against Bristol City in 1984/85 – he scored in the 2-2 first leg draw at Ashton Gate before netting again in the 6-1 second leg win at the Boleyn Ground. Walford would make 33 appearances in the famous 1985/86 campaign, with 27 of these games coming in the league as the Hammers claimed their highest ever league finish of third. The emergence of George Parris put Walford’s position under threat however and he only made 13 league appearances in 1986/87. Walford’s final appearance for the Hammers was on 7th March 1987 in a 2-1 First Division defeat at Charlton but he would remain at the club until 1989, by which time Julian Dicks had arrived from Birmingham and made the left-back berth his own – first-team football did arrive for Walford though through loan spells at Huddersfield (1987), Gillingham (1988) and West Brom (1989). After registering 147 appearances for West Ham United, and scoring four goals, the 31-year-old Walford moved to Lai Sun in Hong Kong.
Walford returned to England to play for Wycombe under Martin O’Neill the following year and, after a brief spell at Wealdstone, returned to Wycombe as O’Neill’s assistant. He has since worked with the Northern Irishman at Norwich, Leicester, Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland and has won the English League Cup twice, the Scottish Premier League three times, the Scottish Cup three times and the Scottish League Cup once. Walford, now 59, is currently assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland (he is pictured above at Euro 2016) and also had a brief spell doubling up as Neil Lennon’s assistant at Bolton.
Referee
Tonight’s referee is Martin Atkinson who, ironically, took charge of last season’s Premier League win at Arsenal on 9th August 2015. 2016/17 is Atkinson’s twelfth as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Atkinson has refereed 16 of our league matches, officiating in nine wins for the Hammers, two draws and five defeats. Last season Atkinson took charge of the Hammers in our 0-0 draw at Anfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup and refereed our 3-1 win at Bournemouth in January 2016, our 2-0 win at Arsenal in August 2015 and the 1-1 home draw with West Brom in November 2015.
Atkinson also refereed the Hammers’ FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford in March 2016, when he turned down appeals for a penalty after Marcos Rojo appeared to have tripped Dimitri Payet and failed to spot Bastian Schweinstieger’s block on Darren Randolph as Man Utd equalised late on. He refereed September’s 4-2 home defeat to Watford and October’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, when he controversially sent off Aaron Cresswell for two very harsh yellow cards in quick succession. His most recent Hammers appointment was our 3-1 win at Middlesbrough in January. Atkinson is pictured above, issuing a red card to Thomas Vermaelen and awarding the Hammers a penalty in another previous encounter he refereed between the London rivals at the Emirates – with a minute to go to half-time and the Hammers a goal down, the spot-kick was subsequently missed by Alessandro Diamanti and the Irons went on to lose 2-0 to Arsenal’s ten men.
Possible line-ups
Arsenal are without the injured Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Santi Cazorla and Lucas Perez while reserve goalkeeper David Ospina, who conceded a hat-trick to Andy Carroll last April, faces a late fitness test. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey are also both doubts.
West Ham United are without Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell, Pedro Obiang and Gokhan Tore. Michail Antonio should return to the starting line-up, while Diafra Sakho may make the bench. Slaven Bilic can become only the third manager to win on his first two Premier League trips to Arsenal. Mark Noble is one yellow card away from receiving a two-match ban – he has to get through the Arsenal and Swansea games to reach the cut-off point and thereby avoid a suspension.
Looking ahead to our next match against Swansea, Leroy Fer is one yellow card away from missing the game – the Swans face Tottenham at the Liberty Stadium tonight.
Possible Arsenal XI: Ospina; Bellerin, Gabriel, Mustafi, Monreal; Coquelin, Xhaka; Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi; Sanchez.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Byram, Fonte, Collins, Masuaku; Kouyate, Noble; Antonio, Lanzini, Ayew; Carroll.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!