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Devastating by Arsenal, devastating for Sam Allardyce.
Arsene Wenger’s men moved to within four points of the Champions League spots with a resounding 5-1 drubbing of West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium, with the Hammers playing the last twenty or so minutes with ten men after Daniel Potts was stretchered off with a severe injury that rendered him unconscious and requiring oxygen from the pitch-side medical staff.
Arsenal’s recent defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea did not seem to have gone down well with a certain section of the home side’s fans; as was characterised by a significant number of empty seats at Ashburton Grove.
Jack Collison opened the scoring for the visitors in the 18th minute, blasting one home just outside the Arsenal penalty area, before Lukas Podolski equalised with an equally fierce drive four minutes later.
The Gunners opened up their attacking batteries in the second half, with goals from Santiago Cazorla, Theo Walcott and an Olivier Giroud brace.
Wenger was able to welcome back Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who’d missed out on the trip to Stamford Bridge due to illness. With a crisis developing in midfield for the Gunners, the Frenchman elected to start Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Cazorla in the centre of the park, sticking with the same back four he’d elected to start with against Chelsea. Podolski joined Giroud and Walcott up front.
Sam Allardyce made four changes from the side that drew 1-1 to Queens Park Rangers at home last weekend. Mohamed Diame and Joe Cole dropped to the bench, as did Matthew Jarvis. Marouane Chamakh was ineligible to face his parent club.
With their confidence understandably frail after their recent defeats, it was Arsenal who came out of the tunnel with a willingness to show intent. Wilshere released Walcott down the right-hand channel, but Winston Reid was able to cut out the danger the England winger posed as the ball bounced out of play for a goal kick after fourteen minutes.
In the 17th minute, a free kick from deep inside the West Ham half found Matthew Taylor in space to breach Wojciech Szczesny’s goal. The ball took a wicked deflection off the Arsenal rearguard before bobbling out for a corner. The resulting set piece was headed out of the box by Giroud, but fell straight to Collison, who did not hesitate in releasing a screamer past Szczesny, giving the Poland international little time to react.
Arsenal have conceded early more often than not this season, and the onus was on them to prove to their critics that they could bounce back.
And they did so in some style.
In the 22nd minute, Wilshere’s pass found Podolski, who let loose a blistering drive that tore past Jussi Jaskelaainen to put the Gunners on level terms. It was the German’s 11th goal of the season.
With the game ticking towards half time, it was a case of as-you-were in cold North London, with Arsenal enjoying possession in midfield but coming under pressure when the Hammers launched artillery strikes forward. Theo Walcott could find no one with a pass across the face of goal, and Taylor’s free kick could find no one in the Arsenal box.
In the 35th minute, Giroud released Gibbs down the left. The left-back found Podolski with his cut back, but the German was off-balance and could only stab his shot straight at James Tomkins. In response, West Ham nearly took the lead. Bakary Sagna’s clearance was blocked by Taylor and fell to Carlton Cole. He fired goalwards with Szczesny off his line, but Ramsey and Thomas Vermaelen conspired to clear the ball off the line, with the Arsenal captain injuring himself in the process.
In first half stoppage-time, referee Andre Marriner awarded the home side a free-kick just outside the Hammers box. Cazorla’s exquisite curler was scrambled wide by an equally astute save by Jaskelaainen.
The Gunners had shown resilience in coming back, but West Ham, who last scored a Premier League goal away from home on the 25th of November, were proving to be more than capable opponents.
Despite that, Arsenal came out of the second half eager to put the visitors to the sword. And with the Gunners up and raring to go, West Ham would have their work cut out as the second half began.
What was to follow was a ten-minute period in which the Gunners would display the full potent of their offensive battery.
Theo Walcott’s low cross was snuffed out by James Tomkins and Gibbs’ cross was cleared for a corner. From the resulting set piece, Walcott flighted a corner to the near post and Giroud snuck in front of his marker to prod the ball into the roof of the net past a melee of players, scoring his tenth goal of the season and giving Arsenal the lead in the 47th minute.
Six minutes later it was 3-1. The excellent Wilshere picked out the galloping Podolski on the left. He found Cazorla who tickled the ball home despite the pressure being put on him by the West Ham defence.
Just a minute later, the German scorched down the left once again and played an incisive all to Walcott who was roaring in from the right. The Englishman rolled the ball past Jaskelaainen to give Arsenal a virtually unassailable lead.
But Podolski wasn’t done yet. He sprinted down the left to set up Giroud for the Frenchman’s second on the night. The 26-year-old had found the back of the net himself and had set up the other three.
Once Arsenal went 5-1 up, Wenger decided to make changes to his side. Thomas Vermaelen had been playing through the pain ever since he’d collided with Ramsey in the first half, and was replaced by Laurent Koscielny, while Podolski, the Premier League’s most subbed player, was given a reprieve with Andre Santos taking his place.
Allardyce decided to ring in the changes as well, with his substitutions pointing towards damage control. Mohamed Diame, Alou Diarra and Daniel Potts all came on for the East Londoners. It could well be the Senegal midfielder’s last game for the Upton Park side, with Arsenal expressing an interest in him.
One of those players, Potts, required extensive treatment after he went down in a heap at the far end off the pitch. The 18-year-old, whose father Steve is a legend at West Ham, slipped out of consciousness and needed oxygen on the pitch, with six paramedics attending to him before he was stretchered off in a neck brace to rapturous applause from those inside the Emirates Stadium.
The extent of the injury is still not known, but the concern on the faces of both the Arsenal and West Ham players indicated how serious it actually was. Potts regained consciousness in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
Despite the break in play, Santos, Cazorla, Walcott and Chamberlain all continued to fire goalwards. But the long break in play due to Potts’ injury had taken the sting out of the game. West Ham had decided to put everybody behind the ball, switching to a five-man back line.
With a mammoth twelve minutes of stoppage time being seen out, Arsenal moved to within four points of fourth-placed London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but continue to remain in sixth place. The coming weeks could be pivotal in deciding whether they end up there at the end of the season. This was the Arsenal that people wanted to see. This was the Arsenal that people said bordered on the awesome.
The Hammers find themselves in 12th with 27 points, eight clear of eighteenth-placed Reading.
Arsene Wenger’s men get a Premier League reprieve this weekend, with the Londoners travelling to Brighton and Hove Albion for their FA Cup fixture, while West Ham make the short trip to Fulham on the 30th of January.
Lineups:
Arsenal 5-1 West Ham United (Podolski 22′, Giroud 47′ and 57′, Cazorla 53′, Walcott 54′; Collison 18′)
Referee: Andre Marriner
Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen (Koscielny 58′); Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Podolski (Santos 70′), Walcott, Giroud (Chamberlain 73′)
Subs not used: Mannone, Jenkinson, Arshavin, Frimpong
Manager: Arsene Wenger
West Ham United: Jaskelaainen, Tomkins, Noble, O’Brien, Demel, Reid (Diarra 62′); Nolan, Collison (Potts 63′), Taylor; Vaz Te (Diame 70′), Cole
Subs not used: Henderson, Jarvis, Cole, O’Neil
Manager: Sam Allardyce
Stats:
Arsenal:
Shots (on target): 24(10), fouls: 9, corner kicks: 13, offsides: 2, yellow cards:0, red cards: 0, saves: 3
West Ham:
Shots (on target): 10 (4), fouls: 11, corner kicks: 5, offsides: 5, yellow cards: 1, red cards: 0, saves: 5
Possession: Arsenal 69% – 31% West Ham United
Next Fixture:
Arsenal: FA Cup Fourth Round vs. Brighton and Hove Albion, Falmer Stadium, 26 January 2012
West Ham United: Barclays Premier League vs. Fulham, Craven Cottage, 30 January 2012
