Arsenal jump-started their campaign on Tuesday with a convincing win against West Ham, while also putting in an encouraging performance. What makes this win even sweeter, is Everton losing to Palace at home (!), which means we keep the fourth place and our destiny is once again in our own hands.
Arsene made quite a few changes to the side, that gave their all in the cup game, with Szczesny, Koscielny, Kallstrom and Rosicky playing from the very first minutes. The glaring omissions were Ozil and Gibbs, as both of them haven't completely recovered from their respective injures. Monreal also haven't made the bench, which meant Vermaelen started on the left. Apart from him, Sagna, Mertesacker, Arteta and Cazorla all played, despite featuring to the very last minute earlier against the Latics.
As is the tradition in recent games, Arsenal started slowly. West Ham looked more dangerous in the opening minutes, creating several half-chances, before the Gunners took hold of the game and pinned the Hammers against the wall.
The problem, however, was Giroud. He didn't look particularly tired, but still played like crap the entire half, failing to get onto the end of Podolski's low pass, not making contract with any of Sagna's (very decent) crosses and spurning a brilliant chance from a one-on-one.
The Frenchman tried to poke the ball with his left, instead of smashing it with his right, and Adrian saved easily.
Then, just when we seemed to be building some momentum, West Ham scored. Nocerino sliced through our defense on the left and produced a fierce shot that Szczesny saved. However Jarvis was first on the rebound (though Koscielny desperately tried to stop him) and this time Szczesny was powerless to stop the effort from going in.
Now, in retrospective, I'm glad that Jarvis was allowed to plant his header into the net. Had Koscielny stopped him, it would have been a foul and a red card for Laurent, so we would have been really hard-pressed to get anything out of the game. We got away with such dangerous play, but would someone please tell Koscielny not to do this again. We may not be so lucky next time.
A conceded goal sparked Arsenal and men started pouring forward in search of an equaliser. Kallstrom lashed a shot of his own, after making space in the box, but the keeper got down well to parry. In a few minutes he'd be unable to do so.
It all started with a throw-in deep in West Ham's half. Vermaelen returned the ball into play, Giroud lost it and a clearance followed. It fell to Cazorla, who lurked not far from the box and the Spaniard did brilliantly to dissect the Hammers defence. His pass found Podolski and the German buried his chance without pausing for thought. So the teams went into the dressing room with the scores level.
We started the second half energetically and it paid off almost immediately.
One of our corners was cleared, Vermaelen picked up the loose ball near the centre circle and sent it back in. Giroud got rid of two defenders, who desperately tried to hold the Frenchman back, got the ball down in one neat touch and smashed his effort home with his right foot. 2-1.
This was when I thought that now we're going to drop deep and defend our slender lead, but I was surprised. Arsenal continued threatening West Ham with endless attacks and it was obvious from the way we passed the ball that confidence was high.
We struck again in the 79th minute. Cazorla found Giroud on the flank, Olivier sent in a cross which fell to Ramsey (the Welshman came on for Rosicky mere minutes prior to that) and the header from our star midfielder sliced the Hammers defence open once again. And once again the pass picked out Podolski, whose first-time effort made the score 3-1.
We didn't fall back even after that and Cazorla could have made it 4-1, but his brilliant shot swerved agonisingly close to the far post. It was game over at that stage, but had the Spaniard got his name on the score sheet, it would have been a reward for all the hard work he's put in.
I didn't pay attention to this in the immediate aftermath of the game, but it turned out the manager fielded a group of players whose average age was above 29. It is our most experienced squad in over ten years, but then again, who cares? Arsene didn't have much of a choice in the light of all the injures and suspensions and it's not like the players haven't got the job done. Maybe their knowledge in how to grind out results in these games was what made the difference. That’s what the manager himself said on his team selection:
“It was a gamble but I said before the game as well that it was the oldest team certainly that I've ever played at Arsenal. I trusted the experience of the players because… tonight it was an unusual around-30 team, and that experience of course helps when you are a little bit backs against the wall.”
On the result as a whole:
“Yes, we were tested mentally, but I think we were strong. We were united, disciplined, determined, and despite being 1-0 down - I couldn't see where we could be 1-0 down - it was a big blow but we responded well. Overall you could feel that the team was absolutely focused from the first to the last minute. We built slowly a win that I think was normal.”
And on his temptation to go old-school with two strikers after Podolski’s brilliant performance:
“I am tempted but I have so many offensive players, who all want to go in the middle, and Lukas is the only one who is really a wide player. Rosicky is a central player, Cazorla is basically a central player, and when you don't have Walcott it's very difficult to do that.”
Overall, a very good game coupled with a very good performance. Cazorla seemed to have finally returned to his old self, Koscielny slotted back alongside Per as if he's never left, Kallstrom put in a reassuring 90 minutes.
A special mention has to go to the strikers. Podolski was brilliant, coolly putting away his chances and taking a beautiful free-kick in the first half, while Giroud demonstrated his mental toughness. After an atrocious 45 minutes during which nothing came his way, he worked hard in the second half and got himself a brilliant goal, perhaps his best this year.
Everton dropping points means we're fourth again and four wins will see us qualify for the Champions League however good the Toffees play in the last games. We have some experience pinching that last CL spot, so let's make sure we do it again.
Back later. Until then, enjoy the win and the fourth place that comes with it
Arsene made quite a few changes to the side, that gave their all in the cup game, with Szczesny, Koscielny, Kallstrom and Rosicky playing from the very first minutes. The glaring omissions were Ozil and Gibbs, as both of them haven't completely recovered from their respective injures. Monreal also haven't made the bench, which meant Vermaelen started on the left. Apart from him, Sagna, Mertesacker, Arteta and Cazorla all played, despite featuring to the very last minute earlier against the Latics.
As is the tradition in recent games, Arsenal started slowly. West Ham looked more dangerous in the opening minutes, creating several half-chances, before the Gunners took hold of the game and pinned the Hammers against the wall.
The problem, however, was Giroud. He didn't look particularly tired, but still played like crap the entire half, failing to get onto the end of Podolski's low pass, not making contract with any of Sagna's (very decent) crosses and spurning a brilliant chance from a one-on-one.
The Frenchman tried to poke the ball with his left, instead of smashing it with his right, and Adrian saved easily.
Then, just when we seemed to be building some momentum, West Ham scored. Nocerino sliced through our defense on the left and produced a fierce shot that Szczesny saved. However Jarvis was first on the rebound (though Koscielny desperately tried to stop him) and this time Szczesny was powerless to stop the effort from going in.
Now, in retrospective, I'm glad that Jarvis was allowed to plant his header into the net. Had Koscielny stopped him, it would have been a foul and a red card for Laurent, so we would have been really hard-pressed to get anything out of the game. We got away with such dangerous play, but would someone please tell Koscielny not to do this again. We may not be so lucky next time.
A conceded goal sparked Arsenal and men started pouring forward in search of an equaliser. Kallstrom lashed a shot of his own, after making space in the box, but the keeper got down well to parry. In a few minutes he'd be unable to do so.
It all started with a throw-in deep in West Ham's half. Vermaelen returned the ball into play, Giroud lost it and a clearance followed. It fell to Cazorla, who lurked not far from the box and the Spaniard did brilliantly to dissect the Hammers defence. His pass found Podolski and the German buried his chance without pausing for thought. So the teams went into the dressing room with the scores level.
We started the second half energetically and it paid off almost immediately.
One of our corners was cleared, Vermaelen picked up the loose ball near the centre circle and sent it back in. Giroud got rid of two defenders, who desperately tried to hold the Frenchman back, got the ball down in one neat touch and smashed his effort home with his right foot. 2-1.
This was when I thought that now we're going to drop deep and defend our slender lead, but I was surprised. Arsenal continued threatening West Ham with endless attacks and it was obvious from the way we passed the ball that confidence was high.
We struck again in the 79th minute. Cazorla found Giroud on the flank, Olivier sent in a cross which fell to Ramsey (the Welshman came on for Rosicky mere minutes prior to that) and the header from our star midfielder sliced the Hammers defence open once again. And once again the pass picked out Podolski, whose first-time effort made the score 3-1.
We didn't fall back even after that and Cazorla could have made it 4-1, but his brilliant shot swerved agonisingly close to the far post. It was game over at that stage, but had the Spaniard got his name on the score sheet, it would have been a reward for all the hard work he's put in.
I didn't pay attention to this in the immediate aftermath of the game, but it turned out the manager fielded a group of players whose average age was above 29. It is our most experienced squad in over ten years, but then again, who cares? Arsene didn't have much of a choice in the light of all the injures and suspensions and it's not like the players haven't got the job done. Maybe their knowledge in how to grind out results in these games was what made the difference. That’s what the manager himself said on his team selection:
“It was a gamble but I said before the game as well that it was the oldest team certainly that I've ever played at Arsenal. I trusted the experience of the players because… tonight it was an unusual around-30 team, and that experience of course helps when you are a little bit backs against the wall.”
On the result as a whole:
“Yes, we were tested mentally, but I think we were strong. We were united, disciplined, determined, and despite being 1-0 down - I couldn't see where we could be 1-0 down - it was a big blow but we responded well. Overall you could feel that the team was absolutely focused from the first to the last minute. We built slowly a win that I think was normal.”
And on his temptation to go old-school with two strikers after Podolski’s brilliant performance:
“I am tempted but I have so many offensive players, who all want to go in the middle, and Lukas is the only one who is really a wide player. Rosicky is a central player, Cazorla is basically a central player, and when you don't have Walcott it's very difficult to do that.”
Overall, a very good game coupled with a very good performance. Cazorla seemed to have finally returned to his old self, Koscielny slotted back alongside Per as if he's never left, Kallstrom put in a reassuring 90 minutes.
A special mention has to go to the strikers. Podolski was brilliant, coolly putting away his chances and taking a beautiful free-kick in the first half, while Giroud demonstrated his mental toughness. After an atrocious 45 minutes during which nothing came his way, he worked hard in the second half and got himself a brilliant goal, perhaps his best this year.
Everton dropping points means we're fourth again and four wins will see us qualify for the Champions League however good the Toffees play in the last games. We have some experience pinching that last CL spot, so let's make sure we do it again.
Back later. Until then, enjoy the win and the fourth place that comes with it