West Ham 1-3 Arsenal – Arsenal had to come back from a 1-0 half time deficit to record a long-awaited win.
The team selected by Freddie Ljungberg looked very decent but the omens did not look good when Hector Bellerin had to pull out while warming up to be replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
It got a whole lot worse when Kieran Tierney had to go off with what looked like a shoulder injury.
Arsenal dominated possession in the first half but did not show any sense of urgency, in fact, they showed very little, no creativity, too much sideway passing and lingering on the ball.
West Ham, on the other hand, looked far more energetic when they got the ball and offered far more in attack.
It was, therefore, no surprise when they went ahead on the 38th minute with a slightly dodgy goal that VAR determined was not scored with the arm but rather the shoulder of Ogbonna.
The truth is, it was another very poor first-half display from the Gunners.
You would have thought that they would come out with all guns blazing in the second half. They did not.
West Ham had the upper hand until the 60th minute when Martinelli slotted home from a pass from Kolasinac.
Now it was game on.
The game then started to flow from end to end and for the first time in the game, Arsenal started to look very dangerous going forward.
Then it came on the 66th minute, a special goal from Nicholas Pepe. He finally showed the class he possesses in abundance.
Aubameyang passed the ball to his right and Pepe stepped inside a curled a beauty to the right of the Hammers keeper.
Arsenal now had the upper hand and just three minutes later Pepe and Aubameyang combined once again, this time it was the Ivorian that was the provider and Auba whacked it in on the half volley.
Arsenal continued to look the more dangerous and West Ham did not offer up much as the game continued, truth be told.
There are still some significant problems, this win does not cover them up but the lads showed character and this could easily be a turning point.
They need to build on this win and confidence will have been lifted.
The fans will certainly be happier tonight, it has been a long time coming.
A win, but we have to reduce our reliance on no 10 gradually, especially when the no 10 easily gives up on chasing the ball and likes to let his teammates to get it for him. Arsenal have deprived themselves of midfielders by using a no 10 in 4-2-3-1, instead of playing with 4-3-3:
– Aubameyang: Quiet for the most part of the game, then created a creative backheel pass to Pepe and scored a goal. Not his fault though, because Ozil was very dull tonight
– Ozil: He seemed to have given up and should have not started at an away game. Arsenal should not let his laziness and his lack of fighting spirit infect the younger players
– Pepe: Did what a 72 M attacker is supposed to do, with a Sanchez-esque goal and lob assist. But he became complacent and gave up after that, which should not happen
– Martinelli: Showed his big stamina by chasing the opponents around relentlessly. His goal lifted the team’s spirit up and he should have nailed that LW spot for next game
– Torreira: Arsenal’s first goal was created initially because of his vision. Worked hard to fight West Ham’s midfielders, despite being outnumbered
– Xhaka: Another one who seemed to have given up. He didn’t work as hard as before
– Sokratis and Chambers: Were not impressive, but at least the CBs did not give the possession easily by Luiz’s long balls
– Maitland-Niles, Tierney and Kolasinac: Did decent job as fullbacks. At least they tried their best
– Leno: Great job
A lot of our players were poor.
In the first half only Pepe did well but even he was average. The rest were below average. Definitely not a £72m performance. Gave the ball away too many times. His overall game is lacking and thus he isn’t great but good.
The midfield was exposed as incompetent in the first half. For a period I thought to myself we had to sell both Xhaka and Torreira immediately.
We were helped by a West Ham side that completely went to sleep in the first half. This is no better than the Brighton match. The difference is we met a worse team.
I wonder what those scouts and decision makers thought when they evaluated Pepe’s showreel. I know we badly needed a left-footed RW, but I expect a quick adaptation for 72 M
Ozil, Xhaka and Sokratis definitely have to be sold
lol am not a big fan of Pepe, but tonight he had a great game. You have been saying the same thing since we choose him ahead of zaha, have always said there’s a great player in there if only he can work hard like Sanchez, so the boy has only started like 8 premier league matches and you already knows he’s not going to be a great player lol.
Nah he wasn’t great. He was average for most part. Took his goal well and his assist was clean but he gave the ball away too many times and misplaced his passes. Yeah he’s a good player but I don’t think he’s grea and that us based even on his Lille showing. It’s not only about stats for me but the player’s game.
Calm down bro don’t be too critical, he will adapt,I understand your point
I see your point bro but his problem isn’t adaptation. I rate him as being a good player but not world class as many think he is or will be
Look at fabinho at Liverpool, let give pepe time,or if a good coach can work on him like sterling, but if he doesn’t improve there’s nothing we can do about that…a source from skyports said emery desperately needed zaha and we were unable to get him even magurie we couldn’t cos he was to expensive,I think is time arsenal support the coach like gaurdiola,and other top coach if want to meet with the elite club @kev
Pepe needs to toughen up; when he was taken out he took far too long to get up. The EPL is a tough league and Pepe has to ride the tough times to be on the field to score the goal he did. His ability isn’t in question, but his mentality is at the moment.
*second half
Torreire put in a hell of a shiftbghere tonight. He was one of the best there tonight along with Mantinelli they covered some ground. The 2 best for Arsenal tonight.
Give over with your number 10 fixation for effs sake, it’s getting boring.
GB, it might be getting boring but it’s the truth, We were told once Ozil get back in the team we will start creating chances, this is Ozil 7th straight match that he will be starting but am yet to see the chances we were told he will create, the guy is just so so useless, can’t mark can’t run can’t pass, why are Arsenal so unlucky, we have Sokratis and Luiz in defense, we have Niles who he himself doesn’t know he’s best position, we have an average Xhaka who can’t run can’t mark without getting a yellow, as if that’s not enough we have a very lazy and out of vision Ozil, why are we so unlucky.
GB-if you look at his earlier posts he had Ozil in his preferred line-up.AS A WIDE LEFT MIDFIELDER.
FFS even Stevie Winder can see that Ozil is never And was never a wide player.
The issue I have with @ Got No Idea is that he seems to believe he knows what he is talking about when quite clearly he has no clue at all.If he’s not bashing Ozil, who was far from being our worst player this evening, then he spouts shite like inverted wingers dribbling down their legs. God help his mother with doing his washing.
Since we are stuck with Ozil, Arsenal should have tried him as a half-winger or mezzala in 4-3-3 formation
Trying him there is better than watching him strolling in no 10 position. That’s the only position he has never been assigned to
Phil, Gotanidea has this fixation with ozil, #10 or inverted winger. He is been suggesting 433 but didn’t realize that we dont have midfielders to play 433. Just because 433 works for Liverpool and ManC (sometimes) doesn’t mean arsenal should adopt the same formation without considering the personnel. Arsenal is bad with or without ozil in the lineup and no current arsenal players can take this midfield to the next level
Sure gotanidea is repeating the same thing but since fanboys like you can’t see a bad performance by ozil even when it stares you in the face, repeating is necessary.
Ozil and xhaka were the worse players in this game.
Just look at the 1st goal while torreira is doing ozil job while doing his at the same ozil is doing his usual jogging on the pitch and cannot bother to run forward to what became a dangerous move and goal. People gave him a pass for being lazy in defence but if he is lazy going forward then what the hell is he good for?
Phil isn’t it remarkable that, whatever happens in a game, Ozil becomes the topic of conversation? We probably would have made thirty more sideways and backward passes in the first half if he had only contributed more to that wonderful style of attacking football and helped out the defence as auba, pepe and martinelli did.
Tonight, we saw the team come back and score three goals in nine minutes against a “weak side” who had just beaten chelsea at Stamford Bridge!!!
Even before the game, freddie saw Bellerin injured and then his other full back replaced as well…which meant the whole team tactics that, one can only assume happened, had been planned since Friday morning, went out of the window before a ball was kicked!!
That saw us in the first half adapting to two new full backs and it showed.
The ball went sideways and backwards so many times, we didn’t need an inverted left footed right dribbling, dead legged mezanine No 10, 11 0r even 12, just Ceballos to bolster this incredible style of pressing football with his trademark cross field and backward balls to fool the Hammers defence and midfield!!!
Freddie and Per must have sorted it out second half though ( excellent work you two) because I felt we had the game in our pocket from the time the whistle blew. We attacked them – simply used the tactics that suited the players selected.
Well done to all the players involved, the away supporters yet again and here’s hoping Bellerin, Tierney Holding, Xhaka and Ceballos are all fit and ready for the city game.
What a silly question. Ozil played the game and showed his unwillingness to put in a shift, yet again, and thus will obviously be a part of the conversation regarding the match. He’s the highest earner of the club and can hardly be bothered. One of the worst signings in terms of value for money, Ozil.
As an old person like you it’s better to call a spade a spade. So are you satisfied with Ozil’s performances?? If no then can you justify on the basis of his performances from the last two seasons that he shouldn’t be sold?? I just don’t get it anymore. Why waste your time on a player who would rather fail you. It makes no sense. Man’s done yet we see weak excuses week in week out for him. No serious top coach will have him in his lineup with how he’s been playing for seasons. The club would sell him in a heartbeat if they could and that is a testament to his performances. A shame that objectivity is put aside just because of blind love.
I concur, no 10 and no left leg.
You always like to take a dig at Ozil. lol. Nice win. He had a decent game
Agreed Ozil was ok tonight and Pepe show signs that can be world class Zhake on the other hand
Shearer said Ozil had a good game as a #10 in the second half. Too bad about the header in the first half, which a player of Ozil’s technical ability should have buried.
Martinelli may turn out to be one of the best buys Arsenal has made in a long time.
ozziegunner, are you now saying that Ozil should have an expandable neck?
Look at it again and tell me how he could have got any higher, in order to control the header anyway?
What you didn’t comment on though, was the fact that he had made the space, was completely unmarked and just needed a better delivery, that’s what a player with technical ability does. Shame it’s often overlooked.
Agree 100% on Martinelli, a superb signing that means we can let auba or lacs go if they won’t sign new contracts. The way he took that goal was terrific.
You’re really clutching at straws with your argument. Man’s past it but you’re still defending him or try to do so. Another poor performance from him yet many won’t even acknowledge the truth. He only gets to play because we have noone in there. Shane that someone as old as you who shpuld be gokdjngvthe club to higher standards rather puts up with average performances. I refuse to settle for less. While Liverpool and co are competing we as fans are stuck in our world rating players who are already past it. He’s done whether you like it or not. When Wenger looks back at his whole career one day I’m sure he’ll know the big mistakes he made
Thank you ken1945.
Some people here don’t understand the laws of physics, which Ozil or ‘the shirtseller’ has to defy if he’s not dubbed “extremely underwhelming as always’ as thirdmansomething idiotically posted. Because WAGES! WAGES! Did I mention the shirtseller’s WAGES!
Ken, I don’t disagree about him finding the space, but do disagree about the quality of the header, as he misjudged the flight of the cross.
For God’s sake its a win after, I don’t know how long, please let us enjoy without any negativity save that for when we loose.
Happy with the result but not the performance. We were garbage in that first half and a lot of our players were really poor. The first half showed why some players are past it. We couldn’t even create chances against average performing West Ham side. Ozil, our chance creator was terrible in the 1st half and average in the 2nd. Pepe as I’ve always said is good not great. Average until the goal and assist. Auba took his goal well but as usual average until then. Really hard to pick a MOTM in this one. I’ll give it to Pepe for killing the game with the 2nd goal or maybe Kola for his assist to Martinelli. All in all an average performance helped by a poor Hammers side.
Agree on Pepe. But Son was lousy in his first season at Tottenham as well, so I hope Pepe keeps improving his work ethics and performance
Once Ceballos is fit again, he has to start ahead of Ozil if Ljungberg still wants to play with no 10. Ozil doesn’t seem to believe in counter-pressing concept at all, unlike Messi, Sanchez and Martinelli
Great 2nd half.
Give Freddie a chance.
Finally, we won a game.
It’s important to move the ball quicker… The goals came from quick movement. Good to get a win before the man city game.
What a relief
It’s gonna be very embarassing if Arsenal get relegated
I guess Pochettino deal is off for now
my man for the day is Freddie. Whatever he did at half time, it managed to jump start the team.
Eh, it actually does feel like starting up your old favorite car which for the first time in forever.
The first half was everything that has been wrong with Arsenal. We never took the ball forward, Martinelli, PEA, Pepe never made run ins because we the rest of the team were busy playing back.
Ozil drifted into the game second half.
I said Pepe was the only one taking risk going forward, and it paid off. Happy for himz even Freddie was happy for him. Hoping to same the same forward lime against City please don’t just mess with the forward lime anymore. All three did their jobs today. I wish Freddie will ask them ri start being direct and stop being negative with the ball every time
The front three were average for most part. The truth is they arent good at retaining the ball and this going to pose a lot of issues against City. Freddie wants them to be positive in their play but the team is limited by their ability. Ozil was below average in the 1st and average in the 2nd. I think we net a 4-3-3 against City
The front three was average? Kev what were you expecting from them three when we never took the ball forward in the first half. Did you even listen to guys inside the studio? How they kept pointing out how PEA isn’t even getting any good ball at all?
Usually we know him to be a player who thrives off pace and who makes run in for passes, but today during the first half everybloody passes were all backwards. What could they have done?
Even City’s front three will struggle if they play the way we did in the first half
So you’ve simply explained why the front three was average??
Even when they were on the ball they couldn’t hold it and messed up so many easy passes.
Martinelli looks likes he’s better centrally and not out wide. That position again will become an issue
Finally a win. Very happy, especially with Pepe, Auba, Martinelli, Torreira
This was one of many opportunities for Ozil to shine, but he was very average as per usual. Ozil never fails to disappoint
Ozil is finished, I decided I wasn’t going to talk about him again but after seeing him again today I realized he’s not just average anymore he’s finished, am waiting for the next Ozil excuse from his fans.
He’s playing because there’s no direct replacement for him though imo Nelson is suited to that position
It’s been ages. Finally we play football worth watching. We are starting from nothing so can be nothing but happy. Pepe and Martnelli stepping up. Thank you
Football worth watching, are you having a laugh, we were appalling against a pi$$ poor West Ham team.
We played ‘football’ for 10 minutes, the rest was the worst dross I’ve seen in 60+ years of being a Gooner.
GB, it’s the 10 minutes of good football that we haven’t produced all season. As i said, we are starting from nothing essentially and 10 minutes of good football is better than the 90 minutes of atrocious dross we have seen all season.
Watch how big the spirit of the Gunners will be when they face Man City. You will see the difference between their energy today and five days later
Some senior Gunners are only highly motivated when they play in a big match at home. It shouldn’t be like this and Arsenal should do something to fix it
Wait up on the new manager decision.
I can see where Freddie is going with our team.
Yes WH is poor but the plan is there just needs time.
Give Freddie a dozen games.
What can we lose?
Top 6 is very possible.
EL run is still alive.
FA Cup.
We aint going down give it Freddie till May and decide then.
Freddie is da man
Yahoooooooooooooo
Top 6? We are lucky if we can avoid relegation
What plan exactly? Passing back to the keeper at every opportunity, are you serious?
Top 6 possible, lol, lol, lol.
That first half aged me by about 5 years!!
Much better second half – see we can do it!! 3 really good goals.. and 3 points.. about bloody time!
Loved Freddie and Pepe’s hug! My boyfriend assisted… and no cards from Mike ‘I love myself’ Dean 😱
Actually Sue, I thought Dean was our 12th man.
He was not actually, but 10 minutes of close to Arsenal class display took him unaware and he could not help it.
It’s unheard of, GB 🤣
If that first half aged you by 5 years, I wonder how old you are now, 900++ years?
But don’t worry, Arsenal has aged me too.
A little over 900 😄👍
Hahaha, that must make about 350 years old now Sue! 😉🤣
Thing is, we scored on our first shot on target at 60 mins. I’d that was Liverpool or City we would have been trounced!
And the rest, GunneRay 😝
And we’ve got that to come on Sunday 😬 Hopefully tonight will have given them all a bit of confidence though, because boy we need it!
AS soon as they minimise this nonsensical ‘playing from the back’ to the barest minimum, we should be seeing positive results.
The defenders should concentrate on their job than always trooping to the opposition 18 yard box – we have more than enough fire force to do goal execution.
Well done! This is a very much needed confidence boosting win.
Plenty analyst here. Guys make una chill. Enjoy the win and support your team. You guys are hard to please geez! Na wa o. After 9 games why wouldn’t their confident and performance be as expected. We are our own probs.. Tonite I rejoice.
My guy, I no know say u go talk am o. Pepe do this, Ozil no do that, Freddie no do this. Wetin dem want gangan sef.
Tonight, me sef rejoice o.
Plenty analyst here. Guys make una chill. Enjoy the win and support your team. You guys are hard to please geez! Na wa o. After 9 games why wouldn’t their confident and performance be as expected. We are our own probs.. Tonite I rejoice.
@PabloX, I concur.
We came from behind to win today. It’s worth being happy about. Lemmie go and enjoy my sleep…
🎶This life I can’t kill myself… 🎶
You go mind them..enjoy your night bro
I’m listening to analysis by Tim Sheerwood and Alan Shearer and they both agree that Ozil played well in the 2nd half but many who hate him here, will not see that..
He was involved in our 2nd and 3rd goals. Give credit to whom it is due. The team is still weak and lacks confidence, but I hope this win will change that.
Under Freddie we tend to play well for about 15 or 20mins in the 2nd half. He needs to motivate the players to do that for 90mins.
Meanwhile, can the injury curse just stay far away from us? We already have enough to worry about, we can’t afford to add injury problems…
You could argue that Ozil floated well between the lines and retained possession well, but his involvement for those goals was extremely simple passes that 99.9% of footballers would easily have the vision, and ability to pull off. Ozil only made one great pass all game, which was near the end when he made a diagonal pass behind the defence. Just not enough from him as always.
Thats the standards for him nowadays, bare minimum is now spectacular for him. His pass to Auba was the only creative thing he’s done since he got back in the team, and it’s again a pass that any decent creative player would make.
The excuses for him are amazing. I hope people dont forget this is Arsenal football club. How can we lower our standards so much?? I’ve already written him off the past seasons and this season. I’ll probably be proved wrong again because I call it on the face of the evidence and not by blind love or delusion
Tim Sherwood also made the point, as found out by both Unai Emery and Freddie Ljundberg, with their tinkering with the defense, that the midfield and central defensive players are not good enough. There is only so many ways a head coach can shuffle the deck.
Serious money has to be spent in the next transfer window to strengthen these areas; a top class CB for starters.
Also with Aubameyang going into the last 18 months of his contract, if he doesn’t sign an extension he should be sold in the summer.
Hopefully the team has now realized how they now have to play for 90 minutes, given the tough games ahead.
Listen ladies and gents, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Still a lot to do.
👍 Be back to the doom and gloom on Sunday 😄
Manchester City are defenders short and really in Crises on the back line 30 years old Fernandinho are their Center back at the other hand Aubameyang is on fire
Your comments contradicts your ratings. None of our forwards deserve above 7. They were part of the problem. They made several wrong decision in the first half which meant we couldn’t score. Pepe wasn’t even that good but because he was consistent in this match he should be given his due. Kolasinac was one of our best players and easily the best defender
For all our mistakes West ham barely tested us. We were just creating our own problems
I liked the after match hugging but somebody should tell Socratis to stop burying his face into somebody’s shoulder. That is not how to hug.
Our arsenal is back please don’t critise me cos am so happy now cos being long,but we have q lot work to do to improve,but lets celebrate our victory tonight
I agree with your observation on the 1st half and the 2nd but it does contradict your rating. None of our forwards deserve above 7
Hat tip to Freddie for picking the right XI & formation, and not making kneejerk substitutions.
Our performance as a team is really really low.
Considering we lost both fullbacks and went 0-1 down this was an amazing come back.
So Kola and AMN deserve credit for their late call ups.
Leno was superb.
Chambers and Socritis are both limited but did nothing wrong.
Xhaka + Torreira tried hard but we need better there.
Ozil was great. He more than any one
held us together till we got a foot hold in the game.
His ball control under pressure is phenomenal.
Front 3 were starved of chances till the second half but boy
they didn’t half take their chances.
Loved the way we held the lead for the last 25 mins.
To be fair we beat a horrible WH side who stupidly relinquished
their grip on the game after half time. Why I don’t know.
Pellegrini probably sacked in the morning.
Board have a tough decision deciding whether to keep Freddie or not.
I reckon Freddie should be given the opportunity to show his mettle
v Man City Man U and Chelsea and Leeds then make the decision.
First half was an all round disaster but particularly in second half ozil torreira and Martineli put in decent performances and pepe and aub showed their class if only sporadically .. rest were pretty hapless … xhaka socratese and nairland miles have to go and chambers just ain’t no central defender … need a manager ASAP
Arsenal need players to put their bodies on the line and take one on the face, not turn their head like AMN did for the first WHU goal.
May be he got a call from the keeper?
Agu, one would hope so; however there was an obvious lack of communication by Leno, when Tierney took the safe option to hack the ball behind, when he had more time than he thought.
The bubbles burst quite quickly once they concede #COYG.
That performance is nothing to get excited about, West Ham were bang average. We got the chocolates from the technical ability of the front three. Work ethic, penetration still remains a major concern.
Martinelli is a star in the making
👍
Good win. Much needed and Ozil and Torriera in the middle in front if Xhaka worked better. Like City with Silva and DB. Better support for top 3 who all scored. Prefect in some sense, alot of work to do in another
Just enjoy for tonight and hope that next win lose pr poor let’s try not to boo! The Emirates should be an upbeat place that the players feel at home within think of Anfield!
Our crowd cant be heard normally over the away fans but we like to make noise in displeasure.
Think we need 5o make the emirates a happy place again after all Emery has gone now so leta try and help the 0layers on their way back from the bad place they’re in.
A needed win but lots of minuses and things have to get better from this win. Plenty of changes from Freddie but still the donkey xhaka plays,why? Ozil plays and just cruises about again,why? Lets hope we can improve for the next game and not a one hit wonder.
Arsenal fans are just terrible. We finally won after 9 games and everyone are crying like we lost. This same West Ham won against the mighty Chelsea last week. Just saying.
A win is a win i don’t care if WE play average team or low team or if we play bad,How many times have we played well and lose?How many average teams have we played and yet no 3 points all i want is winning,this same westham beat both Chelsea and united,i just don’t understand why we Arsenal fans are to fund of complaings this days Imagine your team come back from a goal down and won with 3 goals to 1 in an away match still everyone is Pointing out Mistakes from each players and call them names some even rate all our players averages,this guys have gone 9 matches without a win did you guys even know How down there confidence was,Pepe as scored like 5 goals over all in a new team Bigger than his former team and a new league much Bigger than his former league yet people talk Trash About him even E. Hazard is still Strugling at Madrid with all his experienced and playing in a Bigger team than us,Ozil is our best man in Midfield for now,lot of our players are not playing well but they need our support please COYG
Spot on Mr All-star, a win is a win. Let’s just celebrate this win after 9 winless matches in a low.
A win is a win. Hope the Emirates is back full and roaring in support of our players when we play City. Also, the EUL game is there where we need atleast a draw for progress to the nexgt round. Many players will have to put in improved performances to win because WH was not that great an opponent and we struggled in the first half. Am worried about the injury to Belarin and Tierney though. Hope they recover soon enough and so also Ceballos who I hope plays in the City game and he replaces Ozil.