Arsenal moved into the top four tonight after coming from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park.
With Giroud starting up front Arsenal came out of the blocks quickly and peppered the West Ham goal with shots. An early Cazorla effort was followed by one from Giroud which Jääskeläinen pushed out for a corner.
Arsenal dominated possession and territory and had three other attempts before falling behind to the first West Ham effort. Diame turned away from Ramsey on the wide edge of our box, Mertesacker seemed to hesitate a bit, and he curled in a fine shot past Mannone to make it 1-0.
He was booked for his celebrations and should have seen red a few moments later after a crude challenge on Mikel Arteta, but referee Phil Dowd is a cunt.
Andy Carroll was proving a handful for Vermaelen and Mertesacker, winning headers regularly at the top end of the pitch. And he put in shift defensively too, heading away crosses and corner as Arsenal pressed.
Arsenal got back into the game and when Giroud fed Podolski down the left hand side the Frencham continued his run into the box, Podolski’s cross was perfect and the Handsome French Bloke poked home his first Premier League goal. 1-1.
West Ham should have gone in ahead when Gervinho gave away a silly free kick, and Nolan poked Carroll’s well won knock down wide from inside the six yard box. The West Ham captain should have scored and it was a real let off for Arsenal.
We were much better in the second half although not without dangerous moments from the home side. There was a moment of karma when Ricardo vaz Te left his foot in on Mannone but disclocated his shoulder as he fell, no less than he deserved.
West Ham should have been ahead on 67 when Carroll won his 898th header and beat Mannone in the ball to the process, but it flew wide rather than into the empty net. It had shades of Carroll’s goal v Fabianski a couple of seasons ago and again Arsenal escaped somewhat.
A couple of minutes later Cazorla made space for himself on the edge of the box but the Spaniard miscued his shot and saw it fly wide. And Arsenal should have had a penalty when Ramsey was clearly clipped inside box but once again Phil Dowd proved he’s a stupid fat cunt by waving play on.
But soon after Arsenal were ahead, Walcott was played in behind and his finish was really excellent, passing it beyond Jääskeläinen to make it 2-1. The England international’s pace and movement was good and with 4 goals this season he’s doing what he should to convince Arsene Wenger he should be starting games.
A few minutes later it was 1-3, Santi Cazorla picked up the ball from Walcott, moved to the outside of his marker then fired a wonderful left footed shot back the other way and over Jääskeläinen to seal the game for Arsenal.
After that Arsenal simply dictated the play, finishing with 69% of possession overall, West Ham couldn’t get near the ball and we saw the game out quite easily. The only slight downside was an injury to Kieran Gibbs which saw him replaced by Andre Santos but with two weeks before the next game we’ll hope he’s ok.
Overall, a fantastic result and three points, again the Spaniards made Arsenal tick and the Walrus is a sad man tonight. Which makes me happy.
You reds.
Giroud – Goal and an assist – Man of the Match. Arsenal definitely plays better when he plays as a striker. He does all the little things that helps the team.
Arsene Knows!
aaah giroud just like that , just like that ..
err.. i mean COYG !!!
Santi’s wonder goal was just so brilliant.
It’s like a whole new arsenal turned up for the final third of the match.
and of course, great work by theo !
ok remsey might have made a defensive error which cost us a goal he also missd a few balls in the final third apart from that can we all appreciate how good he was… he has improved a lot and in my opinion he deserves to be in the first eleven..
and podolski was amazing…he and gibbs owned the left flank..!!! COYG
ok ramsey might have made a defensive error which cost us a goal he also missd a few balls in the final third apart from that can we all appreciate how good he was… he has improved a lot and in my opinion he deserves to be in the first eleven..
and podolski was amazing…he and gibbs owned the left flank..!!! COYG
“COYG” That’s a dirty spurs sounding saying mate.. It will never fit with gooners! don’t use it pal 😉
Indeed, interesting though that the West Ham fans had Carroll appointed as MotM, haha….
That he does. It makes such a difference having someone to bounce those long balls off when we’re in a tight spot. It relieves pressure.
The brilliant thing is, of course, that that is only a small part of his game. As he showed when he span inside, stuck a pass at Podolski’s feet, then charged into the box like a man with one thing on his mind. GOOOOAAAALLLLLL!
2 goals 4 assists , not bad for a striker on a goal drought.
this is the winning mentality, that winning edge we’ve been missing for years. and also santi ofcourse 🙂 cant remember a time when we had a shot from that far off and scored, brilliant.
To be more fair to Ramsey, the only reason I think people (myself included) are giving him a hard time is because anyone looks a bit shabby compared to Arteta (96% pass completion, 111 passes today) and Cazorla…
Ramsey is improving, but he’s not on their level (yet). His second-half performance was the best I’ve seen him play in a long time, and is very encouraging. Seemed to stop our momentum a bit and played a bit sloppily in the first half, though.
Oops, this was supposed to go on a different thread.
Arteta against the once in a blue mooners.
umm.. arteta against Citeh…
ramsey had a rubbish game. always happens. The day after arseblog defends him and talks him up, he goes and plays badly. frustrates me that Ramsey.
Either way, Giroud seems like a good player. looks like an out and out striker. who gives assists as well as goes. It’s really good.
Theo changed the game though. His finish was excellent.
Are you trolling? Or am I missing joke here. Ramsey was fantastic this evening. He may have been defensively owned for their goal but he worked his socks off, and made some great runs, touches, and passes throughout.
A good display against a tough West ham team and your not happy! Jog on to Le Grove pal.
I agree. He is just a step behind mentally. There were at least two good breaks where he was to slow or misplaced the pass and he obviously got beat for their goal. On the other hand he did very well to find Walcott for our second goal and we won the game with him playing 90 minutes. Overall I think this was a perfect game to play and develop him. He’s technically excellent and you don’t become better at finding passes by sitting on the bench. Still a bit too mediocre to start big games for me but I’m… Read more »
You mean, aside from the good passing from midfield and getting into positions to win penalties (even if Dowd is blind, he got there)? Not that rubbish but anyone playing next to Cazorla is going to look a little average, thought Arteta was our worst midfielder today for the first time in God knows how long fwiw.
Honestly, I’m not AR’s biggest fan, but he had a decent second half. Pretty miserable first half. Still think he’s suited to a sub role (give him 20-30 minutes), but at this point, we don’t have many options.
P.S. — Arteta still had a pretty masterful game. I knew he’d be underrated today, because he hung back pretty far, but I think I only saw him miss ONE pass, and he easily put away the other 90-95.
Why Ramsey hate again? OK he along with others could have done better when we conceded, but he should have had a pen and set up a goal.
We were all poor for long periods today, but Ramsey tried and assisted in our comeback. Leave him alone and, even better, get behind the poor bloke.
Also, look back and you’ll see he scored winners v the mancs and Marseille, and got MoM (on a par with various good performances). Who says he can’t handle big games – and PLEASE don’t tell me this was a big one
It’s interesting how Ramsey really polarises opinion. I can’t decide whether people have developed strong preconceptions of him, but it seems like the commenters here are watching different games from one another at times.
Either way, as long as he keeps giving it 100% shouldn’t we all be behind him… good or bad performances?
At (only) 21 years old, the guy has shown enough ability to suggest he is a very healthy asset. He has had a fucked up footballing education so far (shawcross/Speed/many of his own teams’ supporters).
He still needs to find consistency, but I can actually see that he is getting better this year – please feel free to re-read my first sentence in this post
How on earth people can watch this game and say Ramsey isn’t shit is beyond me. Diame would have been better attended to if Ramsey wasn’t closeby because then he would have looked a threat to the defenders and keeper. And not only that, he kept misplacing passes, slowing the game down, turning and twisting when players were running into space and a good 1-2 would have sufficed. And did I hear he heard a good 2nd half? OMG! what if the opponents had scored six in the first, would his good second half (which I dont agree with btw)… Read more »
are you kidding?
‘Cause I hope you’re kidding
sure, he didn’t defend too well when the Hammers scored on us, but that’s because he’s not a defender. His passing was decent and he made some lovely through balls in the final third.
Ramsey is not shit. People have got to realise he still qualifies for our youth team. We just won 3-1 at Upton Park and Ramsey played well when the rest of the team did.
75% of the first half, everyone played pony. We came back and won. Ramsey will be class, and the Ramsey haters are mainly ill-informed with selective memories…
Where were your comments when the Ox couldn’t pass to a team mate for the first half against Olympiakos? He was shit but he will get better too (btw I love the Ox just using an eg)
Ramsey was again not for the starting 11, at least! And this is really weird what
gunner4life wrote
“ok ramsey might have made a defensive error which cost us a goal he also missed a few balls in the final third apart from that can we all appreciate how good he was”…
Ha ha ha what else has left? Yes he did not scored for WestHam, that’s great, and nobody died last week when he scored for us (that would be his 4th celebrity kill)! Great improvement!
Oh. Forgive me for setting high standards for arsenal players. Clearly not what other fans expect
I wonder if FatGooner will be willing to eat a little humble pie on this blog. He surely has never been shy to criticize Giroud. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait for FatGooner to comment favourably for a change?
Well since you’re being a cunt, I’ll step in here. He never said giroud was shit. What he did consistently say was that if he doesn’t get games, there was no point in buying him. He was correct. Giroud played, he played well. End of. Now stop being a cunt.
Ladies, ladies….
Are both of you snookered behind the red tonight or something?
Look, we had a deeply satisfying 3-1 win, can’t we all…you know…just get along?
Anyway, three great goals, three great points, perfect way to head into despicable Irish international football (for me anyway)
Evening all, I’m off to get hammered. (Heh, didn’t intend that pun)
Please keep comments ON TOPIC, about the game and the performances. Not to bait other users of this website. Thank you.
Thanks, Frog. Nuff said.
Ok, a double negative game, though there weren’t no immature performances from these Gutsy Princes.
These Very Gutsy, Unloved Princes, are the personification of our ability to capitalise on our thuggish opponents.
He played well but santi was deffo motm ?
Walcott’s goal made me shit myself. COYG!
Letting him go for a free, or paying a million or two extra over 4 years for guaranteed 15 goals and 10 assists, at least.
No brainer.
Brother, it has never been about that odd million, it’s been about not setting a bad precedent.
Anyway, I do hope he signs, even though I am not his greatest fan.
Once Walcott has the ball to the right of the goal, there is only one outcome that is possible.
At least we played one of our top three Player$ from the last season. Walcott is only one left at the club and I hope he signs for the next 4 years.
Player$… which were involved in most of our goals last season
@Lapidarij
I don’t care about last season.
I care for this one.
Good job Walcott. Big sub impact… He played like he’s trying to prove his worth, AS HE SHOULD.
(Still don’t think I’d want to pay him that much to be a super sub, and I don’t see him starting for us, but he’s worth keeping at his current salary level.)
Theo Walcott doesn’t have a brain, he has a cybernetic organ that is programmed with lethal finishing.
…In patches.
All kidding aside, good job today.
May I suggest a song for Santi Cazorla to the tune of Kasabian’s “Velociraptor!”? Can’t help with lyrics though…
Please no,,not Kasabian. We’re not Leicester City. Let’s just change the Tequila! song to Cazorla!
Please no,not Kasabian. We’re not Leicester City. Let’s just change the Tequila! song to Cazorla!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santi Carzola’s coming to town
Santi Cazorla’s coming to town!
I liked the version of Kink’s Lola:
“Well you’re not the world’s most physical guy,
But when you came to me,
I couldn’t believe my eyes,
Cazorla, Ca-zo-zo-zorlaaa,
Santi Cazorla.”
Probably doesn’t transfer well in writing but the idea’s there. 🙂
It works, as long as one is familiar with the melody.
Might have to educate the Flo – rida fans out there, but it would be worth it.
Cazorla, we nicked him when the cash ran out at Malaga. He’ll take your back four down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShvJT5_ogCI
Just had this put on my Facebook.
It provides the classic mixture of pleasure and loathing that can only come from a football song.
I’m just excited for this arsenal team. Winning away against a side that kinda reminded me of stoke in terms of long balls is just amazing.
Fat allardyce can suck on that!!.
Onto cazorla, what a signing, when he touches the ball the world just stops and watches. He does not dissapoint. Two beautiful feet, great person, team player…he’s quite frankly a beautiful person that i love
Lol. Who needs to meet him? That smile says it all…
Santi Muthafuckin Cazorla!! Take that you Big Fat Walrus Cunt!! John Barnes and the other twats on ESPN can do one as well! Bunch of cunts!
Whoa. I thought they were fairly appreciative of our boy Santi. Admittedly these people have made some poor life choices in terms of football loyalty, but they are in awe with the rest of us.
GIROUD… WALCOTT…SANTI… oh man, FANTASTIC!!!
Giroud with an assist and a goal.
Walcott with a goal.
Ramsey with a good game.
Mert now among our best defenders.
What were those guys saying again?…..never mind.
I’m out of words for cazorla, he’s just…..i’m out of words!
Too true. Once Walcott was clear I knew it was a goal, don’t know why, but there was just some weird assurance.
Agreed. Theo is just so deadly in those situations these days. As soon as he was through I heard myself and the gooner next to me say “It’s a goal”. I just feel so fucking good about this current crop I must say.
And Giroud, you absolute beauty.
Unless i’m very much mistaken, Walcott had an assist too. Showed his class today. Tottenham are shite.
Yea…me too, I had that rest of mind and assurance that he was gonner score…you should see the fans in my area in Lagos, Nigeria..it was crazy..Cazorla was simply majestic…I call him ‘Santi the Mighty’…up gunnerzzz
Walcott had an assist and a goal tonight.
He (Santi) said: “I’m not Fabregas”. Yes of course. You are better. No Barca DNA in your blood.
We really aren’t missing Fabregas or Song. (We could do with a good third midfield option to challenge Ramsey, but we’re chugging along just fine.)
to challenge ramsey? like, say… diaby, rosicky, wilshere, etc.? thanks for the post, though – i’d completely forgotten we’d sold song! not missing him at all 🙂
Good performance from the whole team today! Theo really supporting his claim for a striker role with some really cool finishing. Giroud getting the goal his overall play has deserved with a real instinctive striker’s finish. Cazorla showing why he’s always so keen to shoot from outside the box. I love it!
“should have seen red a few moments later after a crude challenge on Mikel Arteta, but referee Phil Dowd is a cunt.”
LOL. Dowd was definitely blind today. He missed a possible penalty kick for Ramsey (should have been at least a free kick right outside the box), among many other things.
True, but I don’t give a shit. We got 3 points. Fuck Dowd… Unlike United we don’t need the referee as our 12th man on the pitch.
Just as well Thomas B, because Dowd is a fucking awful ref
Dowd lookes and acts littlebit retarded. That’s my opinion, sorry for this but I think it’s true.
ya but i think Arteta suffered the most cause of the ref being a cunt.. there were at least a couple of barbaric tackles on him.
True. Conclusion must be fuck the cunt then.
it is
Not to mention Mannone taking a boot to the head with no reproductions or protection from Dowd. Karma certainly gave the man what he deserved with the shoulder injury, but the refs job is to protect the players. I know they won’t, but this is a challenge the league should look at after the game. Could have been much worse for Mannone, especially when vaz Te pretty obviously had the opportunity to pull out of the challenge. Saw a game in the MLS earlier this year where a keeper in a similar situation had his nose opened up by the… Read more »
Whenever Dowd waves away a penalty, I think back to the 4-4 against at Newcastle draw where he invented a foul in the box and gave an extremely soft pen before that. I will never forgive that cunt for that day.
Good result in the end and a deserved win! Glad Giroud finally scored and some Santi beauty yet again. Walcott should be mentioned as well, maybe not as visible as Gervinho but: one chance, one goal. The only criticism, if any, would be the defending in the first half which was, at times, horrendous and not just when we conceded.
3 points
Mertesacker!!
He turned good inside the box and unleashed a shot that would have mightly crept in to the far post were it not for the deflection.
Mertesacker!!.
Da, da da, dadadadaaaaaaaaa
dadadadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Giroooooooooooood
It’s a haiku. The lack of syllabic structure is compensated for by the fact that it’s about the sexiest man in football.
Arteta might contest that statement – if he wasn’t already a dedicated family man….
My weekend is drastically improving!
Did anyone how high Mertesacker jump in injury time.Good win hope gibbs is available in two weeks.
Fucking get in there!!! Shove that in your fat fucking chewing gum cheeks. So pleased f
We’re 5th
Not for long my friend, not for long.
Was that Taylor who almost smashed Arteta the one who broke Edwardo’s feet? That aside, a great performance from the team…….Giroud and others…
No. That was Martin. This is Matt. Famed for flukey long-ranged efforts and supplying the odd decent cross for mid-table football teams. He hasn’t ruined any careers as far as I’m aware.
Sing da ting!
*sign da ting
curse you autocorrect.
Incredible performance. This is the Arsenal. This is what I want to see every week… Cazorla, what a player. And Giroud… first goal in PL — and he never stopped working hard for the team. Many more to come, you can be sure about that.
I love Arsenal.
Oh Walcott that was delicious! and some cunts here want him to go away?! Sign the thing man.
I have been a sceptic of walcott’s for a while but I genuinely don’t think there’s a better finisher in a one on one situation.
Other than Lukas Podolski
Cazorla.
If you close him down, he’ll thread a ball right through your fucking feet.
If you back away he’ll unleash a thunderbolt with only one destination….the back of the fucking net!
Happy for giroud, an assist and a goal.
Come on arsenal.
CATHORLA SCREAMER
Never mind Dowd, you did your best. Regardless of the result, I’m sure Allardyce will let you eat the last piece of gum out of his arse like you normally do.
HAHAHAHA! that made my day
hahahahah that was good!!
The ESPN lady almost slipped in a pool of her own fanny batter when she interviewed Giroud.
Hahaha
Mertesacker kept us in the game. If Nolan managed to get that one away, we would’ve lost. And amazing from Giroud, he actually pre-assisted his first goal and played that amazing pass for the second. And Cazorla. Nothing to say about this guy, best buy ever 😀
yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
The only weakness I can see in our defence is sheer muscle power. Carroll bossed us about until he got tired late on, definitely a weakness that other teams will try exploit, ( going up against grant holt next week… )
Other than that we performed well enough and giroud was immense and finally got the goal his effort deserves.
Interesting to see us play the 3-5-2 as well, we’ve really got a lot of tactical options for a change!
yeah but Carrol is muscle, Holt is just fat…
Carroll is a bit of a freak though, strong and combaitve Holt may be but he is not 6’5″ and built like a train; our defence won’t have to deal with that kind of threat very often,
What a awesome game BFG had! That tackle on Nolan was priceless!!
Santi is the gift that keeps on giving!
Its annoying to see Allardyce keep complaining in every whistle blown. They should have played with 10 men and they also escaped a penalty appeal. So what he’s complaining about?
I think he was waving to the tea bar because he’d run out of gum.
A comparison “by the numbers”: By this point last season (up to the second international break): In the Premier League: • we had drawn our first match 0-0 (Newcastle away) • we had won 2 matches (Swansea & Bolton both at home) • we had lost 4 matches (Liverpool at home, Man Utd, Blackburn & Sp*rs away) • we were in 15th place (and finished 3rd!) In the Champions League: • we had just beaten Olympiakos 2-1 at home • we had played 4 matches (including qualifying), won 3, drawn 1 In the Carling Cup: • we had beaten Shrewsbury… Read more »
That was sexily done, my friend. Pat on the back.
Good stats.I wonder if 7amkickoff could do a comparison of this season at christmas and the season before last.To me there are so much similarities in this team to that one,except this time we have the maturity to actually go on and win something rather than dropping our heads.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think we dropped our heads last season… 15th to 3rd takes some doing.
But yes, we definitely do look like we can win something this year, provided we don’t push that self destruct button (like against chelshit)
I think Gunsen Gunner was talking about the season _before_ last…
Googoogafuckinjoob that in your hole, you fat Walrus twat.
Credit where credits due to Theo!
So happy for Giroud too; first of many no doubt!!!!
Oooooh to be….oooooh to be a goooner!
Not to forget our unsung hero mertesacker.
That last ditch tackle he made with those beautiful legs of his was really worth a notice. Had westham scored with that chance then i thinl the game would have really changed for us. Thankyou mert.
Wengers tactics worked.
I wonder if Vaz Te knew the meaning of Karma before he got his?
First things first – Terry is a cunt!
Now that’s out the way, I’d like to say well done lads. Giroud may not have scored loads of goals but he does make some sick runs. And Carzola? What can I say? Class!! That’s all!
COYG.
Oh and did I mention that Terry is a cunt? I did? Oh well, worth saying it twice.
Thought Dowd had a decent game for once thank f**k.
Wasnt a peno for me more accidental tangling of legs good result for the Gunners pluses Giroud scoring Theo scoring and we bossed the game.
Carroll would cos the best defence problems he is near imposible to play againist when good ball’s are being wipe in.
We did good let’s build on it hope Gibbs injury is not to bad really needs a break on that front.
I only thumbed you down for the first line, John. Agree with all else you’ve said.
And i only thumbed you down for your grammer, but agree with what you said, just makes it hard work to read mate !!!
I have given you, Dial Square, a thumbs down for your incorrect spelling of grammar, the space before your triple exclamation point, and your poor sentence structure.
Well, good thing about Gibbs injury is that he wont have to go and deputize for Assy Hole
I must say its really exhausting watching my lovely Arsenal but when you get performances and results like todays, it’s absolutely worth it!
Bravo you Gunners!
Me thinks Mannone is such a good shot stopper Chezzer has a task before hand
Agreed — made some amazing saves. Really liked the way he scooped that ball right off the ground (the time he got kicked in the face).
Giroud, told you he would shine! Santi Cazorla. His full first name sounds even better to me. SANTIAGO CAZORLA. Pronounce it like you’re fucking Cervantes himself and people be running around like world is about to end. Nice work, COYG! Up the arse!
Ps. Walcott, ffs. SIGN IT! You know you can be right up there with the legends.
Blogs, we are 5th not 4th.
EAT MY GOALS!
Where are all the Giroud haters now? get a knife a fork and a big plate put some of your words on it……..and then eat them!
A little perspective mon ami? One goal a glut doth not make!
Two 3-1 win in a row, 6 goals, 6 different scorers. I like it
The three centre back thing we did at the end was really effective in seeing the game out. I wonder if there’s more of that to come? There was that one huge passage of possession where we didn’t give the ball away, and I think it was because, even when Koscielny or Vermaelen had the ball with no forward options, they had the soothing presence of Mertesacker, who could then either give it back or find Arteta. It just gave us that extra safe option when we had possession. And then when we didn’t have possession, it meant there were… Read more »
Well said sir. There appears to be some kind of Basque / Teutonic telepathy thingy happening within the Art / Mert axis of sensible behaviour.
We’re over last weeks letdown,we’ve won away against long ball play.doesn’t matter who manages them,if they’re not arsenal,we don’t care
Look at Theo’s celebration for the 2nd goal, and look at the way he raises his arms and screams for the third goal.
No way you can question Theo’s passion, no way. Just sign da ting so you can start you roadrunner!
Loved the Russian roulette performed by the BFG that almost led to a goal!!
Great to get three points. One thing I noticed that I found interesting. There is a slow motion replay from behind the net of Theo’s goal. I was struck by how relaxed and calm he was before making his strike. So often in the past he has had a problem that, if he was given any time to think, he would ‘panic’ and end up missing his chance. In the case of this goal, he clearly had time to think but he looked as cool Henry.
A thing of beauty.
I think if Cazorla has 3 legs, we still won’t know which one is the weaker foot.
That one’s just for the ladies mate
Apologies for the bad joke