MIRACLE AT THE EMIRATES – AGAIN
Arsenal 2 West Ham 1
This fixture last season was the last one West Ham played in front of a full house before lockdown. Without the twelfth man (usually complaining), Arsenal are not invincible. Put that alongside Declan Rice captaining the side in front of a back three, and the wide midfield… These were the thoughts in all Hammers’ fans heads as they watched from behind their sofas.
Willian has moved to Arsenal in the pre-season, but wore blue last weekend in their away strip win at Fulham. Right. Aaron Cresswell has become one of the side’s enfants terribles, having been pretty much ever present when fit since being signed from Ipswich Town back in the days of Upton Park. But tonight he is in a back three with Diop and 2020 Hammer of the Year runner up Angelo Ogbonna. A chance to reignite the flame of his popularity.
Tonight’s Sky Commentator Bill Drab has just referred to Tomas Sow-Check. Sow? FFS how long will it be before these clowns get his name right? Maybe a hat-trick at Anfield will do the trick.
Five minutes gone and Hammers have the first corner from which Cresswell finds the head of Rice who sets up Ogbonna but the header is straight at Bernd Leno. Cresswell has a free kick two minutes later and sets up Rice whose shot is deflected for a corner. It’s all Hammers in these first ten minutes, but my memory suggests that it is a match on repeat from the one in March.
‘It’s Soo-cek, you Goonish twat!’ I shout at the Sky summariser from behind my sofa. ‘Dubai is open – see you soon,’ it says on the advertising boards. Not if I see you first, I’m thinking.
Antonio hits in a powerful shot from wide on the right, which the keeper lowers himself delicately to his left to save. Hammers’ top scorer from last season is finally looking more like the BCD player of last July.
Cresswell is caught snoozing from a throw in to let Hector Bellerin in down the right on twenty minutes, but he’s rescued thanks to a superbly timed covering tackle by captain Rice.
Arsenal take the lead on 25 minutes in their first attack, from a Lacazette header, but the match is pulled back as Aubameyang, who hit in the cross, is just offside. VAR will cancel this, surely. Nope. Beyond belief. Another case of damned by technology. ‘Who do you thank when you have such luck?’ Elvis Presley once said. But it’s West Ham who are all shook up.
Arsenal: one attack in 25 minutes. One goal.
I’ve just read that Moyes has never won at Arsenal as a manager in 19 attempts. Why do they only reveal such stats when the side they refer to goes behind. Arsenal’s Gabriel is revealed to have handled in the area, but VAR comes up wanting. Again.
The Arsenal virtual crowd are in full song. God I hate Arsenal. Not exactly something to admit in the middle of supposedly neutral match report, but there it is. Super Slav’s West Ham won here in August 2015. Hard to believe that is five whole years’ ago.
Can you imagine being the live match operator in charge of crowd responses for behind closed doors games? I switch to channel two so I don’t have to listen to the fake Arsenal crowd. I’d rather hear the West Ham players swearing at the referee for his lousy decisions. That’s my kind of audio background.
Alan Smith is beginning to make me seethe, and not just because he is continuing to ‘Sow’ Soucek. But before I can send him an email entitled CORRECTION, West Ham bite back. Bowen finds Fredericks whose cross at speed is steered home by Antonio on the strike of half-time. Totally deserved. Have it.
Gabriel wrestles Antonio to the ground early in the second half to get West Ham a free kick. From the loose play Masuaku grabs the ball and beats three men before hitting a shot into the stands, a run that deserved a better finish.
Alan Smith talks about ‘positive passing’ by Arsenal, just as Saka is caught ten yards offside down the left channel. Masuaku now on the break hits in an evasive cross which Antonio only just fails to convert as Leno dives across his path.
It’s noticeable that Hammers to a man are playing well, with patience and with confidence, controlling the midfield. Some of that end of season control seems to have returned. ‘Difficult one to call now, this match,’ says Smith. Hurrah! The summariser’s got his neutral cap on again…
Cresswell now picks out Soucek at the far post but Bowen can’t get on the end of his headed assist. Another deep breath and I am emerging from behind the sofa once more. The hour is up, so will we shortly be seeing Haller come on to complete his Charlton Athletic hat-trick?
Xhaka steams in to challenge Soucek and both go down with a clash of heads, but it soon becomes clear that Soucek has come off worst. From the free kick Masuaku hits a cross in which Antonio heads against the bar with Leno beaten. Bill Drab declares it a great header by Sow-check, getting the pronunciation AND the player wrong… Impressive.
Arsenal haven’t been out of their own half now for nearly ten minutes, and Hammers again go close with Bowen’s shot blocked and then Soucek’s hit just wide. A look at the clock shows 72 minutes elapsed. Arsenal will probably be pleased with a point after all this.
The second half attempts indicate that West Ham have had eight to Arsenal’s one. The match is still there to be won for the Hammers. Masuaku wins a towering header. Who said Cresswell and Masuaku couldn’t play in the same eleven?
No sign of Haller but Lacazette is substituted for Nketiah. Arsenal have a rare corner. Then another. This is why I hate it when West Ham play well against a top six side. They can still succumb to the sucker punch… But not this time.
Looks like Yarmolenko is coming on for his late winner routine. Ten minutes left. It would be an unexpected and pleasing point, but we should really have secured all three. Arsenal have only been able to hit Hammers on the break, and they are the home side, I have to keep reminding myself. Bowen is off, and has played well.
Fredericks hits a beautifully delicate cross to the far post but it’s almost too beautiful, and evades both Yarmolenko and Soucek.
Then the beyond belief moment and Ceballos picks out Nketiah and – how has that happened? Arsenal have been absolutely thrashed to within an inch of their lives in this half and are AHEAD – HOW THE STENCH DID THAT HAPPEN?
Now. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The BS that we have to take as West Ham fans, this is it. Absolute unparalleled BS. We have completely dominated this game and have lost it, and will have to be satisfied with knowing that we deserved to win it and were flipped by VAR and a feeble goal – again. But this time, just like the last time, we will know we were the better side. And that it counted for nothing.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 23 Issa Diop, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 24 Ryan Fredericks, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 26 Arthur Masuaku, 28 Tomas Soucek, 17 Jarrod Bowen, 18 Pablo Fornals, 30 Michail Antonio
Substitutes: 7 Andriy Yarmolenko, 8 Felipe Anderson, 22 Sebastien Haller
Goalscorer: 30 Michail Antonio
