West Ham 0 Arsenal 0
It’s a rendezvous at Eat in Westfield to meet my daughter
Nell, who has just come from the Tate and is expecting to see further works of
art at the London Stadium. Then down the bleak concrete concourse to H Block
where Gavin and Ilona are awaiting their tickets. We’re joined inside by
Michael the Possible Whovian, Fraser, Alison (who is not a jinx), Scott and
Joe. Steve the Cornish postie has been feeling dizzy after the shock of West Ham
beating Chelsea and is spending more time at home with his red delivery slips,
while Nigel misses the game just because of some historic vote in Parliament. Matt
and Lisa are looking for a bar that isn’t showing Real Madrid in Granada.
Early on Arthur Masuaku gets in a quality cross that
Arnautovic heads home, only to be ruled offside by an arm and a leg. After that
Arsenal’s pretty passing patterns start to dominate but West Ham carry on from
the Chelsea game defending stoutly. The cold seems to have muted the crowd a
little and also the football.
WORKING FOR THE CLAMPDOWN
Iwobi hits the outside of the post from a tight angle, but
it’s a game of few chances. Half an hour in you think this is where a Bilic
team would have conceded a goal on the break, but the Moyes defence is looking
a lot more solid, reverting to a straight line of five without the ball as
Masuaku drops back alongside Cresswell.
Arnautovic lobs on to the roof of the net at the start of
the second half but from then on it’s more Arsenal possession. Ogbonna has a
storming game at the back and renders Giroud anonymous. Wilshere blasts a half-chance
over and Adrian makes a decent save from a Sanchez free kick.
“This is how it’s going to be watching a Moyes team,”
mutters Fraser, observing two banks of five and dreaming of the ghost of Martin
Peters past. It’s not pretty, but then desperate times have called for
desperate measures. The team looks much fitter and harder to beat and even Ozil
and Sanchez are looking frustrated.
Moyes shows a strange reluctance to use subs until Hernandez
replaces Antonio, while the crowd get going with Bubbles to raise the side. The Irons even almost snatch it in the
last couple of minutes. After some sloppy Arsenal defending, Noble finds
Hernandez with a clever reverse ball. Chicharito wallops it against the bar
with the ball bouncing on the line and away. Really he should have scored.
The whistle blows and four points against Chelsea and
Arsenal, plus a narrow loss at Man City, is definite progress. Now come four
games against lower level teams and a different sort of test. Can we do it on a
cold Saturday in Stoke?
PLAYER RATINGS:
Adrian 6; Zabaleta 7, Ogbonna 8, Reid 7, Cresswell 7; Obiang 7, Noble 7,
Lanzini 6, Masuaku 7; Arnautovic 7, Antonio 6 (Hernandez 6).
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