Arsenal JUST edge a real Christmas Cracker at West Ham! by Sam P
In the sixth minute of extra time, the Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny was almost punished for one of the very few things he did not do brilliantly. The Poland international came and did not get a free kick, and Enner Valencia got to the back post with his head for the knock on but put it over. Tat was the last action and Arsene Wenger and his players were left in delight and able to celebrate a really hard fought away win.
But the home side had put us under real pressure for most of the game and must have felt they had been mugged being 2-0 down at halftime, especially after our former midfielder Alex Song had produced a thunderbolt of a volley in the opening minutes. But the goal was ruled out for offside as the linesman spotted two Hammers in an offside position and interfering with play.
If that was a contentious decision, there was no doubt about the foul on Cazorla for the penalty or for our second goal a minute or so later. And Arsenal really should have made West Ham pay as they pushed for an equaliser in the second half. The pace of Welbeck, Alexis and the Ox along with the vision of Cazorla gave us lots of chances to kill the game, but Adrian was having as good a game in their goal as Szczesny was in ours.
It did make for a great game and a frantic finish as they bombarded us with long balls late on, but Arsenal held firm and deservedly edged this christmas cracker of a football match. I think a special mention should got to the fantastic Cazorla who did his best impression of Alexis by working his socks off. And Francis Coquelin was as good as I can remember in the heart of midfield.
Great stuff from the Gunners and now we can head to Southampton on new years day in great spirit and with new confidence.