Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Alexis, Cazorla, Welbeck
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Podolski, Walcott, Chambers, Campbell, Akpom
—
Arsenal scored their second win in two days with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in a cracking game against West Ham at Upton Park this afternoon.
Arsene Wenger made changes from the team that beat QPR with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returning, Francis Coquelin starting in midfield in place of Tomas Rosicky, while Laurent Koscielny came in at centre-half with Nacho Monreal moving to left-back.
West Ham looked to trouble Arsenal early on with a deep cross and a corner which Wojciech Szczesny came to claim with real confidence, but from the Hammers second corner it appeared they’d taken the lead.
Laurent Koscielny headed the ball clear, Alex Song hammered it back in on the volley and into the bottom corner, but the linesman raised his flag as there were players offside in a position where they interfered with the goalkeeper’s view.
It was a bright start from the home side with Arsenal looking a little off the pace, despite a swift Alexis break which almost resulted in a chance on the edge of the box. A 17th minute Santi Cazorla free kick found the Chilean in behind the West Ham defence but with Laurent Koscielny also hoping to make contact, the contact was poor and it ended up behind for a goal kick.
Szczesny made a save from Kouyate after a poor Mertesacker gave them a chance, and when Andy Carroll’s held off Mathieu Debuchy with ease in the box he should have done better with the ball just 6 yards out.
At the other end an Alexis shot deflected just wide which resulted in a series of corners and a Cazorla opening but he miscued his shot. West Ham did their best to test Arsenal with long, high balls towards Carroll whose presence was a challenge for both Mertesacker and Koscielny.
The former Newcastle and Liverpool man went into the book for a straight arm on Debuchy, before the Hammers crafted the best chance of the game. After a 38th minute free kick was blocked, a cross found Tomkins found at the back post, he beat the offside trap, but sidefooted over the bar from 8 yards.
The mistake was compounded by Arsenal taking the lead just a minute or two later. Winston Reid fouled Cazorla in the box, and the Spaniard stepped up and drove it low into the bottom corner to make it 0-1.
And the Arsenal joy was doubled just two minutes later when Danny Welbeck struck a second. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Debuchy combined down the right hand side, the Ox fizzed in a low cross and Welbeck poked home from close range to make it 0-2.
West Ham should have pulled one back when Stewart Downing pulled a shot wide from the edge of the box, while just before the break Alexis saw a left-footed effort deflect just wide of Adrian’s near post with the keeper going the other way.
It was something of a smash and grab in terms of the overall performance and the West Ham fans expressed their anger at the referee as the half-time whistle went OOOOOOOOOOO.
Arsenal had the first attempt of the second period when Debuchy unleashed a low shot from 40 yards but which posed little threat to Adrian’s goal. Alexis was given a yellow card for not retreating from a free kick, but in the 54th minute the home side got one back.
Great defending from Mertesacker against Carroll conceded a corner. Arsenal cleared the set piece, it came back out to Tomkins who chipped in a cross. Kouyate got above Debuchy and although the contact wasn’t clean, it wrong-footed Szczesny and looped into the top corner. 1-2.
The Gunners almost hit back straight away after a brilliant run from Oxlade-Chamberlain set up Cazorla but the midfielder saw his shot rather luckily saved by Adrian, and from the resulting corner Debuchy headed not far over the bar.
It was end to end stuff with Sakho almost getting on the end of a cross at the back post, and that was the end of his game as he was replaced by Enner Valencia in the 62nd minute. Allardyce’s side piled on the pressure with Arsenal thankful to Szczesny and Mertesacker for some quality goalkeeping and defending.
The visitors had to hit on the break and Danny Welbeck almost did that when he burst down the left hand side, got all the way into the box, but lashed a left-footed shot just wide. An Alexis shot deflected wide, and the former Barcelona man’s cross for Oxlade-Chamberlain saw the England man power a point-blank header right at the keeper’s legs.
The Hammers keeper saved again from close range, this time from Alexis as his toe-poked effort looked to be going in at the near post, before Welbeck spurned a great chance after careless play at the back, shooting over when he should have at least hit the target.
Arsene Wenger brought on Kieran Gibbs in place of Welbeck, before another good break saw Alexis misplace a pass but in the end Arsenal made a good chance for Cazorla, only for Adrian to save once more, and the Spaniard hit the rebound over the bar.
There were other chances with Oxlade-Chamberlain shooting wide on the break and the Ox looked as if he should have had a penalty when he was fouled just inside the box but the referee waved away his protests.
Kevin Nolan tested Szczesny from distance as West Ham looked for the equaliser and there were calls for a late penalty which the referee ignored. With 5 minutes of injury time, the home side pushed everyone including the keeper forward for a series of free kicks, and with the last kick of the game Valencia headed just over at the back post.
Arsenal didn’t rue those missed chances in the end and made it 6 points from 6 in the festive schedule so far.
Effort, guts, desire, unity.
Onwards and upwards Arsenal.
nc.
Here’s one happy Gooner 🙂 a late Xmas prezzy just what the doctor ordered. 3 points and it wouldn’t be the Arse without a nail biting climax
anyone noticed welbeck seemed to have missed all his headers?
even the ones that were unchallenged…he was bouncing up and down under balls that were arching several inches above his head….heheheh
Yeah! I spotted this as well, it’s like he was completely misjudging the flight of the ball every time. Bouldy needs to take him aside in training and show him how to attack the ball like it’s just insulted yerr missus in the pub.
With a glass, you mean?
I want a change of manager, but credit where it’s due, we done well today.
Every proper arsenal fan wants a new manager at this stage. But not until the end of the season in may. Arsene Wenger has proven that he is not the right man to take arsenal to the next step.
Every proper Arsenal fan? Piss off
It’s quite unbelievable the utter disrespect I constantly see for one of the great managers in football.
I wonder if any of these so called fans actually remember the state of Arsenals reputation when he took over.
There is a very good reason that the board and fans have stayed loyal to him – he is the most successful Arsenal manager and the second most successful manager in EPL history.
Don’t speak for me you tosser and i have been going since 1961.
Don’t try to tell me what I want, you twat. I’ve supported Arsenal since 1971, which is probably three times as long as you’ve been alive. Get lost and keep your bile to yourself.
And a referee that got most things right
Onwards to the 4th place trophy!
Would you have preferred we didn’t move up the table?
Perhaps you could get a personal loan and supply the £billion + needed these days to BUY the title.
Unhappy we put space between us and Sp*rs, perhaps?
Very good win today. Well in lads.
Very good win. Gonna have to wash my pants though.
Brilliant, great to have our proper defence and two in midfield protecting them.
MOTM contenders: Szczchesny, Chamberlain and Sanchez
I’d go with Cazorla myself. His touch the entire match was immaculate. With Arteta, Wilshere, and Ozil out he’s the glue holding our team together. My hat’s off to him. If I ever saw a tiny Spanish no. 10 who likes a scrap in the cold it’s Santi.
Cazorla has that great trick he does where he pings it off each foot to wrongfoot someone and make some space when bringing the ball out of defense and up the pitch. It is a really neat little trick that seems to be his trademark – he seems to do it 2-3 times per game where you hardly ever see any other player replicate it.
No Santi? I thought he was brilliant today.
I thought the COQ had a tidy game after Wenger stuck him back in there.
Santi all day for me.
Squad changing impact goes to a real starting back lineup though. It’s just better with Mert on the right and Kos in the squad, but I just hope Kos weathers it properly.
The back 6 freed up the front 4.
Stoke looking more and more like a fluke, now on to Southampton!
think you mean West Ham is a fluke, because we all know Stoke is literally a joke.
I think he means the loss at Stoke
Schneiderlain out for them as well. They hung on, but looked very tired against Chelsea.
Hardly. Away at Liverpool we saw the same stuff. But I hope it’s the last of it.
Is it ok to dream about the title challenge ?
would love podolski to start against Southampton.
You are allowed to dream, just don’t hold your breath while doing it. We were almost this far back in 1998
Assuming Giroud comes back in then it may be that Wenger will go with Podolski just to give Alexis a rest. Might depend on whether he’d have Walcott fit enough to come in if Podolski isn’t working out.
What an exciting game, both keepers were in insane form today. Alexis is superhuman, I’d have liked to see him get an early mark though. Ox played out of his skin as did Santi.. Not sure ozil would walk back into the CAM position in this form but that’s a nice problem for another day.
Rivals dropped points too, massive win today! Get in
I know Alexis will probably get it, but I really think Santi Cazorla has been our best player this month. What a lad, was coming under some criticism his first few starts, but he has bounced back really well and is becoming the player like he was his first season here!
oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Santi Cazorla <3
Not sue if I am correct, but i feel that both Ozil and Santi were out of form because they were being played out of position. I would like to see Ozil and Santi rotating for that one position of CAM instead of playing together in the team.
The same goes for wilshere as well.
What game were you watching? Neither Ozil or Wilshire were playing today. (And for your information Ozil has been out for months and Wilshire for a few weeks.)
But on the cam role, yes rotation makes sense. But if anyone has to play wide imo make it Wilshire and play Ozil as a 10, Santi too when Ozil s out.
Isn’t it nice to have an actual defence? COYG!
Right? With all fit I’d start Gibbs personally, but Debuchy, Mert, Kos, Nacho is a damn fine back line and it sure felt good to have everyone we need in defense.
Great win. Not for the faint hearted this team.. But I wonder whats up Tony Gale’s arse. First he is complaining about songs goal not being given. Then he moans about the carrol yellow. Then he says asnl were ahead undeservedly. Then he gets his knickers in a twist about asnl subs taking “4 minutes”. And the best part. First he says the ox has had a poor game and then 2 mins later when they show his assist and he makes that run he is like the ox has been excellent. What the flying fuck??!!
He was getting right on my wick today as well. That nonsense about debuchy’s reaction to being elbowed was curious to say the least. Kept rabbit Inc on about Carroll’s arm not flailing, like that matters a fuck!
There’s only one thing wrong with Tony Gale and that’s that he’s a stupid fucking cunt.
Who da fuck is Tony Gale. ( Mertesacker was outstanding. You might have a point about him and Kos you know)
Can we have a bonus rating for Tony Gale please in the player ratings
Andy Carroll literally elbowed Debuchy in the head and Gale said he was being theatrical. What an utter wanktard.
Not really good enough though is it. To be only able to play alongside one player and then go completely to pieces any other time.
I don’t think that’s the case though, because during all the heavy defeats last season he was with Kos? I think maybe the problem with Per is mental?
Besides the fact that he made 300 apps for West Ham!
Thing is, his commentary on all Arsenal games is like this. He wasn’t that much harsher on us playing against the WHUsses than he is when we play any other team. Just a biased toe rag.
Was it him who kept referring to our midfield enforcer “Coq au vin”?
You don’t know..Debuchy is allowed to go down only when he gets hit by a monster truck.. You know, the kind you saw in Terminator 2..
I feeling like stabbing someone in the face whenever he starts talking.
Yeah i was sitting here for the whole game trying to figure out what game that massive bellend was watching. He kept going on about how bad Per has been and how he doesnt win enough headers and all i could see is per winning headers and one on ones. He defended every ork challenge they made. Which also reminds me of the 2 footed challenge early on! I thought it was only that mob at BT with the 3 cunts Owen, Mcmanaman and david james. God bless ian wright for keeping it unbiased but sane.
His anti-arsenal drivel was really testing my patience, considered turning the sounds off a few times.
I switced to a spanish feed – goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
yes, we had the same commentator in Canada. Tony Cale played D for West Ham for 10 years (mid 80s to mid 90s). He sure did have some tinted glasses today. He also writes for the Sun… The Song NON-goal went through an offside guy’s legs! How is that not interfering?
Well played Gunners! Not sure anyone had a really bad game. Debuchy made me miss Sagna on a few of those corners, but he makes up for it because he attacks so well. And of course, sweeper keeper Szcz was great!
I thought he was Stuart Robson at first. They both have that rabid anti-Arsenal slant and that smug self-satisfied voice.
Did notice but he is an ex hammer, what do you expect? Fuck him, 3 points, UP THE ARSE
They are both the result of secret Government experiments in cunt-cloning.
Did notice but he is an ex hammer, what do you expect? Fuck him, 3 points, UP THE ARSE
Totally deserved and very satisfying win. We rode our luck a bit so did they. Sounds like a good game. Good to get our full set of defenders back as well. Szchesny is improving as the season takes shape. All in all good win, just another on new years day would get us in top 4 and close to Man U.
Cow did well.
Coq was good too.
Ox?
Woolback got a good goal (shame we didn’t get Woolcott on, though good to see Kier-hen Gibbs). Szcz ‘the cat’ was great. Cowzorla MOTM for me.
I cant understand why arsene doesnt do any sub.. Sanchez looked completly burned today. Podolski or even tr7 could played in his position
To be fair there was rotation for the midfield today. But the forward line (Sanchez, Cazorla, Welbeck) simply needs rest, as a matter of urgency– the second time when their goalie came up we saw Sanchez outpaced by Winston Reid getting back to their open goal, and that clearly has to be an indicator of red zone.
It was Caroll my friend. Now think how much alexis must be knackered that caroll outpaced him. I just hope we don’t lose him due to injury.
Rosicky wasn’t on the bench today…is he injured?
He played hard 48 hours before after not featuring for some time. It’s probably too much too soon.
Why is Theo not playing? I do not understand. And what’s with the change to all out defence when we’re doing quite well on the counter? Anyway it’s 3 very welcomed points and we go away smiling. COYG
Today wasn’t a situation where we could afford to give Theo a run-out, today’s subs were about digging in for the 3 points. Very entertaining match on both sides i must say.
He was warming up when we were 2-0 up. Had they not scored early in the second half, I imagine we would have seen him come on.
That last free kick gave me a heart attack!
Poor first half but somehow won it 2-0. Good second half but somehow lost it 1-0
No one likes a smart arse…
I thumbed you down cause I thought you were being condescending at first, then I noticed his name.. Apologies 😛
That last free kick gave me heart attack!
Great game! A hard fought and well deserved victory! I’m really, really happy with the performance and Szczesny was great today.
Szczesny looked about 8ft tall today. I think Andy Carroll was terrified.
a very big 3 point today
I could only watch Soccer Special so only have to go on what Phil Thompson said, but sounds like we defended pretty heroically so well in to all involved!
Lots of other results going out way today as well, hopefully Chelsea have softened up Southampton for the next game (Scneiderlin will be suspended too).
We’re still not too convincing, but one step at a time, the first being grinding out Christmas results!
COYG
The passing for the second goal was like the old Arsenal, such a good goal
Was telling my bro how even after Alex Song left Arsenal, he still have his angels watching above him. Thing is, they are angels of misfortune. Beautiful goal ruled out quite harshly, really bad luck there for him, but we got our arse bailed out early once again, which is good. A win, can’t ask for more!
Fuck off, do you understand offside?
Apparently he doesn’t.
Misfortune in as much as his own players fucked his ‘goal’ up for him, but then, that sort of luck happens to a lot of the players who choose to leave Arsenal for Barcelona and end up playing for teams like West Ham. It’s karma.
that ref…..what’s he got against arsenal? was his ancestral home desecrated by building the emirates stadium?
Nothing wrong with the ref today, mate, he was one of the best we’ve had all season.
Six out of six. Whisper it but we are sneaking in unnoticed
Maybe not AS pantshitting toward the end as QPR, but it just won’t be Arsenal to cruise, eh?
Just one last thing as a contender for link of the year… https://vine.co/v/OMg9YAOlpBu
Well done !! Solid and did the job. The Coq definitely made a difference in midfield. Our play without the ball is normally not very good in midfield but the the Coq put his foot in and body to be fair into challenges to give us some bite. Well done Welbeck, he might not be as efficient I front of goal as Podolski but he is a better worker for sure( love u Poddy). Mertersacker also responded to the fair criticism he has had with some ballsy defending. Kosc?? He the boss. Santi from season 1 is back !!! Sanchez,… Read more »
Another great performance todaytoday, nothing wrong with the spirit of this team. Can only dream of where we might have been if we didn’t have so many injuries to key players
please for the love of all that is good and pure give alexis a rest. use him off the bench for a game and give theo a run out … he must be in the burgundy/purple zone now….
shout out to coq too for his first start and szschezny for some great keeping
Our Coq > Their Song.
nc
Alexis will most likely not play against Hull in the FA Cup. He’ll play against Southampton for sure.
Fucking hated the lineup but I fucking love the result!
Boys digged in and Szcz played a huge part today!
If someone read my comment in yesterday post, I predicted 1-3 win with cazrola welbeck and poldi to score, and i was right except the third goal, if poldi was brought on in the last 15 minutes and the chances we have had it would be 1-3 and my prediction would have been 100% correct. But never mind we won away very difficult match, now a win in new years eve will catapult us in 4th and with confidence high up, and injured players slowly getting back it would be a great second half of the season for us. that’s… Read more »
The last 2 matches combined with some heavy eating at Christmas has ruined my bowels.
The “not as pantshitting” was more due to our continued threat up the other end than defensive solidity, to be fair, but still.
Everyone’s been criticial of the team and Manager this season (I’ve been one one of them) but fair play to them for digging a result out today, time to rest the legs now and go again on New Years Day. Win that and I think we can be much more confident of getting fourth.
Glad Welbeck got a goal, he needed that.
The Ox is becoming a vital part of the team now, feel like we missed him in the last few games. That co-commentator though, whats wrong with that guy?!
Ex Hammers player tony gale
Mental display from Alexis Alexis! Was on my feet applauding even his tackles today. Ox was good too.
Of course F*CK Fat Sam, and FU*K Tony Gale with his “sod the winter break, gotta great game ‘ere” piece of uncritical thinking, crap-commentating shite. Can the Premier League please start an ‘Academy for Tolerable Commentators’ pls?
Good game and great to have our defenders back. Thought our coq put in a good performance too. Only thing that gets my goat is this tendency to take off our holding strikers when we’re protecting a lead. There was an almost instantaneous mounting up of pressure from west ham after Welbeck came off. We should really have the confidence to play our game till the end rather than just throw on all our defenders
What a fantastic game. I’m 17 and I can feel my heart going; stop doing this frantic shit, Arsenal.
Kudos to both keepers, had insane games, and fair play to west ham as a whole, just a great game all round.
*Customary Alexis Sanchez orgasm here* – the man is a god.
Finally, I’m pretty sure the Ox just anally fisted that ‘red zone’ – he was dead on his feet.
Till the next game lads. COYG.
Charming. Young Le Jim has a great future ahead of him…
writing the English captions in Dutch porno mags. 🙂
Forgot to mention in my last post… Chelsea, Southampton, United, Spurs, West Ham and City (and Burnley haha) all dropped points. That’s all fucking six teams who were above us! Festive results don’t get much better than this! COYG.
Hahaha! Professional midtable side and their “tactical genius” of a manager thought they could take the Arsenal. Looked at their fixtures and thought, “We’ll rest our best players, roll over at Chelsea and beat Arsenal, hahahaha!
But seriously, when Cazorla is on this kind of form, my, my, what a player. And Alexis, need I say more? Great win by the Arsenal! Chelsea, Mans Utd & City all held! COYG!!!
Kudos to Burnley. They did rather well in Manchester.
Christmas and new year are bad for my health. The period means more football, more Arsenal. More Arsenal, more heart attacks.
Overall I would say Tony Gale was little bit a cu*t. But the quality of my Coq was outstanding. Stayed hard and stiff in the middle on a little bit cold night
Loved seeing Coquelin getting stuck in, had a great game
Seriously, how could you say that without the standard abbreviation??
What a Coq up!!
🙂
Still having post-match orgasm
Another heart attack inducing victory but three points nonetheless. Lets hope we can get a run going, get our confidence back and start playing like how we are capable of playing. Props to Welbeck for his goal and all round play and also to Coq who I thought looked switched on through out. Not hard to see him take Flamini’s place in the side. Cmon lads. Lets beat Southampton and get a head of steam built
Had poor Russian stream for the game. What channel was the game on?
Strange tactics by Wenger today. The only way we were going to concede was by an aerial long ball so subbing on chambers and Gibbs was not going to mitigate that. We did look very dangerous on the break so if we had kept our attackers on we could have kept the pressure on to avoid conceding ourselves rather than trying to absorb theirs. Almost cost us but anyway great game good win. Happy New Years everybody
Because he need to rest the attackers?
Because it strengthens us defensively on the flanks and stop the crosses
Well done the Coq put a great shift in doing all the shitty bits
Really good game against a much improved West Ham, although they were overly obsessed with finding Carrol at any opportunity. I also think we deserved our win and the performance had the lot; some decent football, particularly on the counter, determination, good work ethic and some great defending. Throw in a Scezny ‘where the fuck is he going moment’ and it capped it all off for me. But for 3 very good saves during our strong spell in the 2nd half we could have been out of sight (and that’s not considering the other chances we had when we failed… Read more »
What happened to rosicky, he wasn’t even on the bench? Hope it isn’t an injury. Great game though. COYG
Tired and shagged out after a long match two days ago.
Yeah, me too.
Sanchez and Santi are not getting a break because there is no one really to take up their roles. If Ozil, Willy, Rambo and Theo were all 100% fit, I’m sure the manager would rest one, if not both of them. Poldi can’t put in the amount of effort and drive that Sanchez brings to the team.
Anyway, great win today. The Ox is turning into one of my favorite Arsenal players, Santi was fantastic, Alexis is superhuman, BFG, the Boss and Sczesny were all fantastic. The pairing of Flamini and the Coq also worked. Bring on Southampton!
I agree with you, everyone of us were saying give a game to poldi against the worst team we faced, QPR and rest alexis, but after i saw the game and what alexis did, the guy can’t get a rest especially with so many injuries, and i’m sure he will get rest when our players like ozil ramsey arteta wilshere kos are fully fit and back playing constantly it’s much easier to give your best player a rest when the team is balanced and had all the best players back and not injured.
I could only see us drawing and after getting pegged back throwing it away!
Feels all the sweeter for being wrong!
We’re decimated by injuries, dead on our feet because we can’t rotate for the same reason but we’ve made it to January in 4th and last 16th of the CL. Fuck me if I know how.
I have high hopes for rest of the season with our players coming back. It might be Wenger’s last but please do us a favour and get that CB and CDM and gives us a chance now…..
We were the only side in the top 7 to win today. Valuable points gained against those around us. Haven’t had a day where results have gone for us like this for a while. Let’s enjoy it and show that we’re finding our consistency again with a win at Southampton on Thursday.
Good game- impressive displays by Adrián, Cazorla, Ox and Coq- Adrián to join United if de gea moves to a good team
Well done boys I hav always known that our team has been totally misjudged by some fucken fickle plastic fans!! Where is Fatgooner now pls? Amproud of our boys n our Manager’s tactics today!! COYG!!Upwards we March on and Happy Xmas to the all Real Gunners fans love y’all peace
One game man, get a grip
let’s hear what you say after we play the big boys. This is typical us, play well and beat west ham but when we play chavski city utd we all know we are found wanting