Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Elneny, Xhaka, Wilshere, Iwobi, Welbeck, Lacazette
Subs: Macey, Mertesacker, Holding, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Nelson, Aubameyang
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Arsenal began the send off for Arsene Wenger with a comprehensive, although not always convincing, 4-1 win over West Ham at the Emirates this afternoon.
Arsene Wenger picked a strong side, obviously looking to create some fluency ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final, but was without Petr Cech, Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac and Jack Wilshere due to injuries and illness.
Laurent Koscielny had the first real sight of goal, heading not far wide from a 9th minute corner, and Jaoa Mario had a shot on target and a last gasp tackle from Mustafi denied Arnautovic when the former Stoke man found himself in behind as the Arsenal defence was exposed by a long pass.
Moments later, the West Ham forward found himself in behind again, this time with a better chance to shoot and he forced Ospina into a good save. From a corner a Kouyate header bounced off the top of the bar, and it was apparent that the Hammers need for points was firing them up.
Bellerin ought to have done better than shooting over when set up by Welbeck, and the England international was next to have a go, fizzing a shot not far wide of Joe Hart’s post in the 25th minute. The West Ham keeper made a good save from a Xhaka free kick, Welbeck headed a Bellerin cross over, and late in the first period there was a lengthy stoppage when Elneny picked up an injury.
The Egyptian international was caught in a clash with Noble, and was stretchered off with his leg in a protective book, replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Ramsey cracked a shot wide and that was that for the first period.
There were no changes at the break and the Gunners began the second half with a bit more intensity. Monreal shot straight at Hart with his right foot, and Zabaleta picked up a yellow for taking down Welbeck as Arsenal looked to break.
There was some justice though as from the resulting free kick we won a corner. Xhaka took the set-piece, Monreal caught it first time on the volley and shinned it into the bottom corner. 1-0.
David Moyes made a couple of changes and they paid dividends with a West Ham equaliser a couple of moments later. Ospina had punched away a cross, a couple of shots got blocked, the Arsenal defence was stretched, it came to Arnautovic and he cracked a shot across the keeper and into the net. 1-1.
Aubameyang replaced Iwobi on 70 minutes, and the club’s record signing was again stationed out on the left hand side. Hart made a save with is his fingertips from Xhaka, and made an even better one to tip a goalbound Welbeck curler around the post as Arsenal sought a winner.
A second goal came in the 82 minute, with a touch of good fortune. Ramsey picked the ball up out on the right, he curled in a cross, for some reason West Ham defender Declan Rice left it for his keeper and the ball went straight in. 2-1.
It got even better two minutes later. Arsenal worked it from left to right, Welbeck involved, as was Aubameyang who played it outside him to Lacazette. The French striker took a touch, and his shot deflected with real pace beyond Hart. 3-1.
Welbeck was replaced by Calum Chambers in the 87th minute, and the win was made even more emphatic with a fourth goal in the 89th minute. Ramsey did brilliantly in the box, played it Lacazette who turned, made space and drilled a low shot into the net for his second. 4-1.
It was a much better second half than first, and a nice way to begin the final few games of Arsene Wenger’s reign.
Wenger played welbeck into some form ❤
I love the look of buffed up Niles. ❤
WENGER I LOVE U ❤?
I have a feeling Arsenal fans will spend the coming seasons masturbating to Arsenal’s attack.
(Just don’t appoint Brendon Rodgers)
He masturbates over pictures of himself
He masturbates over shark porns
For the bridge to Metallica’s ‘Blackened’, substitute ‘masturbation’ for one of the meaningless ‘-tion’ nouns they repeat, and it turns a very dark song into a moment of levity. True story.
Not gonna lie, had a little tear in my eye when the crowd started singing “One Arsene Wenger”
Indeed there is only one Arsene Wenger
Laca gets a brace.
Ramsey with a goal and assist.
Welbeck hitting some form.
Finish the game on a high.
Ozil to come back for the game midweek.
Bring on Athletico.
A very nice confidence booster for the game on Thursday! Suck it Thuggo Arnautovic.
The game changed on its heel after Iwobi left and we became more direct. He was utterly frustrating, Ozil and Mkhi cannot come back any sooner.
Meanwhile, both Ramsey and Xhaka were excellent today. Nice indeed for Laca to get a brace
COYG…do it for Monsieur Wenger!!
He was rather poor but he’s still only 21 years old and suffers from the same problem most youngsters have, Inconsistency. On top of that he’s not getting a run of games. So yes Ozil and Mkhi are much better options at the moment but if he can gain the consistency that age and experience usually brings then he’ll be a major player for us in the future.
The game turned on its heel after Iwobi went off – he had a poor game. Ozil and Mkhi cannot come back any sooner…
Great confidence booster for Laca, excellent game for Ramsey and Xhaka who should have scored a fifth.
COYG…do it for Monsieur Wenger!!
Can anyone pls tell me wh still we have empty seats?
Sunday lunchtime kick offs are always quiet.
Plus London Marathon today makes it more difficult getting across London.
Because ppl were standing.
Honestly what a difference Auba for Iwobi made. The guy is different class
He’s not just a poacher
Think Maitland-Niles added a bit of attacking flavour as well, I love The Neny but sometimes we need someone a bit more direct.
did he touch the ball, ???
Yes, he had 51 touches of the ball in fact. He made 44 passes, with a completion rate of 85%
I like AMN a lot and he was good, but he was slightly as fault for their goal. He trotted back too slowly leaving Bellerin in an awkward position with 2 players.
What’s exactly Iwobi good at? Maybe he is a decent passer, but he can’t score and has no clue what defending is. He looks just odd to me.
Iwobi is clearly talented but he’s still just 21 and needs direction. I reckon a more hands-on manager will be good for him.
lol, sounds a bit like ozil
Iwobi has been poor today as he has been all season other than a couple of good games . A 2 goal return in 35 appearances says it all really
Yeh, totally agree. Came on and everything he did was with attacking intent and confidence. Unreal turn of pace.
Hopefully the new coach will add some decent defenders and upgrade to Xhaka/Wilshere and we will have a good team
Would it be fair to assert that aubamayeng’s inclusion on the bench was not a tactical decision but instead an indication that Wenger didn’t desire his signing in the first place and now feels he doesn’t need to pander to the board with his decisions?
In other news Stoke are going down
and hopefully they stay there. Such an awful vile club
Now that you’ve gone off topic and mentioned Stoke… its strange that the gap between PL and the Championship has strunk in recent years. Gone are the days when newly promoted teams went straight back down
Most newly promoted are holding up solidly in the Premier league
Goal rush in the last 10 minutes. Hoping Mo’s injury isn’t too serious. Bring on Athletico.
let’s end the season on a high and win the Europa league and give Wenger the positive farewell he deserves. great win!
Nacho reminds me of our Lego man; very good players and yet cant get into the Spanish national team. i feel for him. well their lost is our gain.
Shout out to Montreal , superb technique for the goal!
Top 3 player of the season for sure
Who is this Montreal people keep talking about?
Montreal is a world class city. I’m a cheeseburger man myself, but if you get a chance to go to Montreal, eat a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s Deli. Tell them I sent you, and they’ll, well, they’ll probably give you a look.
I’m a Rueban’s man myself.
He’s ok, but someone should tell those early modern painters that there’s more to art than portraits. I mean, Jesus, another family? Another self-portrait? Another ‘scholar’? Booooooring!
I really do hope Monreal joins MLS Montreal Impact some day just to confuse the hell out of everybody
Yes he will be there, as their manager. And will stay for two decades, and win them trophies.
A bit like when Arsene joined Arsenal?
I love a bit of nominative determinism in the evening
yes, our left back is one of our top goal scores, that says it all
Best player this season hands down (plays both sides of the game). Second best Ramsey.
Marko Arnountovic proving how tough and strong he is yet again by barging someone in the back when their forward momentum is carrying them into the advertising hoardings. I would actually have no issue with one of our players two footing him out until 2020 (and I don’t say that lightly)
Doesn’t have to be our player. Anyone would do.
yeah. indeed
He’d push an elderly lady out of the Easy Jet Speedy Boarding queue
We should have bought holding on just to give him another shove, noble is a pretty dirty player too
Good second half of both games. Good to see us win, just as good to see Burnley get a goal back and all but kick the orcs back to Mordor.
Niles did well when he came on..Welbeck continues his good form with Laca and Auba providing an impact when we needed it. Much improved from Xhaxa in recent weeks. Bellerin was awful..again
Fuck Arnauotovich pound shop Zlatan.
Bellerin was poor second half. Did some decent things first half.
BUT we can’t rely on him to provide width all the time. Still think we need a wide player with creative talent and pace to double our advantage on that flank, go for overload but also cover.
Up front, we aren’t incisive enough and take too few shots per possession kept.
It was only when Rambo/Rice conspired to sneak the cross in beneath Hart that we gained advantage as West Ham gave up the fight/lost the plot.
We need to be better against Athletico.
I think we need someone wide left…Auba is an option but i would like to see a specialist.
We need to find a way to resign Ramsey as his end product is terrific and he has really improved his positional discipline the 2nd half of the year. For Madrid maybe Ramsey, Xhaka and AMN? The speed AMN brings really adds a different dimension to our midfield and allows Ramsey more freedom.
amn, is a liability, he is not first team player yet, and maybe never
He could slot 90% Premier league teams right away, never mind the future.
what game are you watching? AMN is slick in the midfield. He’s already a fantastic utility player (LB, RB, CM). These are the types of players needed in a winning team.
He plays better higher up the pitch.
Frankly Ozil, Ramsey and Mhkitaryan thrive in the same role.
But with Elneny now injured, we may need Ramsey deeper and disciplined next to Granit whom I thought was excellent today.
Arsene Wenger always reminds me of what a man can be, and what we can aspire to be. Calm in the face of adversity, hard in the face of absurdity. It’ll be hard to come close to him. x
Great Win but it’s sad that Wenger has to stick up for guys like Iwobi. If we had an owner who’s business model was based on ROI through trophies then we’d be seeing 4-1’s and 5-1’s week in week out.
Honestly, i don’t think a new manager can do better than Wenger with the current resources.
There is a misconception that we have spent money for Auba and Laca. All we’ve done is balance the books. Breaking the transfer record is not the same as investing in the squad.
So what do you reckon Arsenal should do instead?
Keep Wenger. Grow a pair. Sign big players and make money through success and consequently through better commercial income.
They can’t hide behind Wenger anymore. I’m pretty sure we’ll see Kroenkes selling their stake soon.
Do you think Iwobi would have been first choice if we hadn’t got an important European game soon and Ozil & Mkhi were available?
Iwobi is 21 and a very decent 3rd choice option…
Please score freely again on thursday without giving away any
Yes. This is the rehearsal.
I didn’t think we did everything correct and plenty of areas to clean up before the real deal.
3 Massive matches ahead. 2 legs against Athletico (which we have to play like it is the Final to our season and Wenger’s career with us) and of course we still have to win the finals.
Nothing has been achieved yet.
Granted it’s West Ham but I have to say AMN does NOT look out of place even a bit.
No one is gonna say it? Ill take the bullet then, Arsenal plays beter without Elneny. (Of course Iwobi too, not gonna state the obvious)
Arsenal maybe better off without you as well .
Brilliant
There is only one Arsene Wenger
Infuriating yet erudite all in one same sentence.
Great play from the boys.
Arsene looked sad.
We made hard weather of it till that goal from Ramsey/Rice. Struggled to put efforts on goal despite possession stats. Its been emblematic of the season. overcomplication in the final third, a pass too many, lack of final application. Once the Shross/Crot went in from Joe Harts inactivity, we eased into it with the Hammers seeping fight. Felt Aubameyang could have been (yet again) introduced waaay earlier. Danny was hit and miss, did somethings well, conspired to trip over himself for others. But a good win all the same in preperation (remind the players) for the real deal to come… Read more »
Joe Hart’s defenders really seem to hate him.
Man on the post? Leave it 1-0
Incoming cross? Leave it. 2-1
Deflection 3-1
Stopped trying 4-1
Shame welbeck didn’t score that curler. Though five minutes later I did my own curler and it looked like arnautovic.
Really pleased Lacazette has picked up form since coming back from injury. I think he’ll be very good indeed next season. Despite this team’s weaknesses Wenger is leaving behind some really fantastic players. If this team form carries on through to the end it would be worth questioning whether making the announcement earlier might have saved our top 4 chances. I guess if we can win the Europa league then that is a better passage to Champions League than 4th place as there would be no play off game. It’s risky but it would be perfect if it ended that… Read more »
oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, so much for the players giving the manager a good send of, it just goes to show that nothing changes at arsenal, as usual we were absolut shit again, the scoreline flattered us today, the new manager has a hell of a job to do when he comes in, its going to take a couple of seasons to sort this lot out, and when did the so called fans start singing, in the 90th minute, when we were four one up, how pathetic is that, and blogs, that was no way a strong team,… Read more »
The only enjoyment you seem to get from football is coming on here and moaning all the fucking time. Which makes me wonder why you even bother.
So true
Blogs can’t you just get rid of this troll, please?
Can you just IP ban him?
It’s a 4-1 win, to begin the send off for our longest, most successful manager. Have some respect and enjoy the win.
COYG!
Don’t know why we were saving Aubameyang. He should have started in lieu of either Danny or Iwobi.
No that was a bit of a strange one
I’d guess he wants to give them game-time before the European game in case he uses/needs them.
Wenger had to do something Wenger.