Up against a side that hasn't won in nine matches. What could possibly go wrong? The best part of the pre-match build-up is seeing Michael the Whovian on the big screens playing for the Pride of Irons. He's not actually at the game with us, presumably because he has been added to Pellegrini's struggling squad. Meanwhile a tardy Nigel asks me to buy a programme as he doesn't want to miss a cover picture of Albian Ajeti. And at Felixstowe last week he was aghast to discover the Seasiders programme was only available online, meaning he wasn't really there. We're joined by Matt and Lisa, Fraser, Roz and Joe for a meeting of London's crisis clubs.
It's all OK for 60 minutes. Arsenal keep passing to us as they try to play out of defence and lose both full backs, Bellerin in the warm-up and later Tierney to injury. The Hammers dominate the first half, with Cresswell having a fine game and the side seemingly up for it. Antonio goes close with a strong run and shot against Leno's legs. West Ham take the lead as the improved Fornals chips in a high ball following a corner and Ogbonna heads home via a deflection off Maitland-Niles. A good side should kill off a struggling Arsenal at this stage but as ever the Hammers struggle to score a second.
At the start of the second half Snodgrass is presented the ball and has a shot deflected wide. A push in the box is ignored by Mike Dean and then a neat move ends with Rice shooting straight into Leno.
ARSENAL PEPE IT UP
But it only takes a second to score a goal. West Ham have been hampered by Cresswell injuring himself while getting booked for a foul, and having to be replaced by Masuaku. Matt's attempts to be positive about Arthur last all of ten minutes. Fredericks fails to cut out a cross from Kolasinac and Snodgrass hasn't followed Martinelli's run from deep. The Arsenal striker sweeps home on his first full league appearance. At 1-1 West Ham should try to keep it solid but things fall apart quicker than in a W B Yeats poem.
Six minutes later Pepe cuts inside Masuaku to send a screamer into the top corner. That's Pepe's first goal from open play for Arsenal. Three minutes after that Pepe is given too much space by Masuaku again and chips over the defence for an unmarked Aubameyang to volley home. Martin gets a hand to the ball and it's not a mistake, but perhaps Fabianski might have produced something brilliant to deny the Arsenal man.
"How shit must you be we're winning away?" chant the Gunners' fans. What's most worrying after that is the way heads drop. There is no battering of the Arsenal defence to try to pull it back to 2-3. Antonio is kept on for the whole 90 minutes despite having already once gone to the bench for treatment and sub Haller again struggles with no service, while it seems unfair to thrust on young Nathan Holland at 3-1 down.
JUST RELEGATION FOR THE CLARET AND BLUE?
The stadium is largely empty by the end and those empty seats will worry Sullivan and Gold. "Where are we going now?" asks Lisa as we leave. "The Championship," comes the reply. We retreat to the Refreshment Rooms. It's half-empty, the West Ham fans are so dispirited they have stopped drinking. The table nearly collapses as Nigel takes his place, in a fine metaphor for the evening. There is a Pinter-esque silence as we take in the evening's events, accompanied by the Teletubbies performing 'Eh-oh' on the TV screen. They look more mobile than our defence. Matt muses about how much we miss Arnautovic who could make things happen on his own.
Meanwhile Pellegrini is alarmingly complacent in his post match comments, claiming that he is not worried about relegation. Well he should be. We currently have the look of a classic relegation side. One win in 11 games. Five defeats in the last six. Unable to get a run going after a rare away win. Poor summer signings. A striker who can't score, creative midfielders bereft of all confidence, no competition for the central midfield positions, full backs who struggle to defend and an injured goalkeeper. Another loss at Southampton will surely see the board take action.
PLAYER RATINGS: Martin 5; Fredericks 5, Balbuena 5, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 7 (Masuaku 4); Snodgrass 5 (Holland 5), Rice 5, Noble 5, Fornals 6, Anderson 5 (Haller 4); Antonio 5.
2 comments:
And it was bleeding cold as well
Good point!
Post a Comment