Arsenal will be frustrated at having failed to pick up the all-important three points tonight, but West Ham deserve huge credit for their performance.
Just like the weekend, David Moyes had his side well organised at the back, and really limited the space we was able to get in their half, while managing to cause us trouble when attacking also.
The first-half saw our side frustrated, with the majority of our efforts coming from outside the box, and we will have been relieved to have seen Marko Arnautovic’s header rightly ruled out for offside after he beat Petr Cech. The goal did ring alarm bells however, as the Austrian forward should not have been granted so much space.
We stuck to our plan, and after 10 minutes of the second-half had passed, we really began to turn the screw on our rivals, and we were starting to feel like the game was going to turn, but it soon fizzled out, and the Hammers worked their way back into the game, and everything began to seem rather nervy…
After 65 minutes of the match, I’m noticing more and more misplaced passes from our key players including both Wilshere and Ozil, and we are allowing the East London side to get more and more up the field.
A scrappy attack a few minutes later sees the cross find Olivier Giroud, but he knocks the ball down for Jack who fails to get his shot on target, and the manager opts to make his first change, and on comes Danny Welbeck for Alex Iwobi.
We finally forced Hammers’ keeper Adrian into a tough save in the 74th minute, when Alexis Sanchez’s neatly taken free-kick forces him to outstretch and knock the ball away, and is by far our best opportunity thus far.
From this point onwards, we are literally having all of the possession, albeit without actually being able to penetrate the defence, and at this point you would fully understand how the Premier League champions failed to score against them on Saturday afternoon.
With 10 minutes to play, both sides bring on their summer signings in the shape of Javier Hernandez and Alexandre Lacazette as we both seeked out the three points, but unfortunately Alexis is sacrificed in our bid to break down this sturdy defence.
Into the dying minutes of the game, and it is our goalkeeper who is being worked the hardest. Javier Hernandez beats the Czech shot-stopper and thinks he has won his side the game, only for the underside of the bar to save our blushes, and thank god for goal-line technology! The Mexican believed he had scored with the ball bouncing down off the bar, but it mustn’t have gone over the line.
We did have one last free-kick at the end to try and nab the win, but it was wasted, and a draw unfortunately appears to have been the fairest result.
Was our formation a failure? Do the Hammers deserve credit or were we wasteful?
Pat J