The Soccer Blog: West Ham - Arsenal Preview

Friday 14 January 2011

West Ham - Arsenal Preview

West Ham – Arsenal Preview - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Cesc’s Comments Unhelpful Following Abject Display By Gunners | Home | West Ham – Arsenal PreviewBy: Martin | January 13th, 2011
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West Ham

Position: 20th, 4-8-10 (20 points, -16 goal differential)

Home Form: 3-4-4 (-2 goal differential)

Recent Form: DWDWL

Last Meeting: Arsenal 1 – West Ham 0 (October 30, 2010)

We haven’t won a match in two weeks, despite playing at home twice and against lower division opposition twice. We haven’t scored a goal from open play in two weeks, either. Fans have turned on players, we’ve got somewhat of an injury crisis in defense, and there is a general sense of doom and gloom surrounding the club at the moment. We have all, collectively, been doing the Charlie Brown walk a little bit. Can we turn that around tomorrow?

Things at West Ham, meanwhile, are kind of exactly the opposite of that. While they are still bottom of the table, they are there by a mere point, whereas they were pretty far adrift just a few weeks ago. They’ve only lost 1 out of their last 7 matches in all competitions, and managed to win hugely important “6-pointers” with fellow relgation candidates Fulham and Wolves during that span. They won the first leg of their Carling Cup semifinal against Brum, they’ve brought Wayne Bridge in on loan, and all of a sudden, it’s looking like they could make a cup final and stay up. I’m sure Avram Grant is celebrating at the massage parlor as I write this.

The previous match-up between the two sides was hardly one-sided. Arsenal won 1-0 at the death when Clichy did brilliantly to cut inside and deliver a fantastic ball into the box for an onrushing Song, who got down and headed it in for 3 points. We were the better team that day, but Robert Green had been amazing and looked to steal a point for his team up until the very end. And West Ham have generally played us pretty tough the last few seasons. Especially the way we are playing right now, we can’t afford to take anything for granted.

West Ham have been very poor this season. They have the worst goal differential in the Premiership. Only three teams (Wigan, Wolves, and Birmingham) have scored fewer goals than West Ham’s 22. Only one team (West Brom) have conceded more than West Ham’s 39. That tells you a lot.

West Ham are mainly a team of journeyman professionals. I still think Robert Green is underrated — perhaps just because he always plays brilliantly against us. They’ve got solid pros like Matthew Upson, Scott Parker (having a career-best season), Danny Gabiddon, and Luis Boa Morte; and promising young players like James Tomkins, Jack Collison, and Mark Noble, who are trying to keep up the reputation of “the academy of football.”

Attacking-wise, we’ll need to watch out for journeyman French striker Frederic Piquionne, who leads the team with 5 strikes. Parker, who has really been bossing their midfield this season, is second on the team with 4. We also need to watch out for Carlton Cole, who has played well in limited action for the Hammers thus far this season, and is the kind of physical aerial threat that we struggle to deal with sometimes.

As of yet, there’s not much new injury news from the Ipswich match, which is maybe a bit of a shame, since several members of the team could probably do with a severely bruised ass after that performance. The one thing that came out of that match was Denilson, who suffered a slight thigh injury, and faces a late fitness test. There was news on Vermaelen this week, which was that he had surgery and would be out until March. Honestly, though, if he’s just coming back from surgery in March, he’s going to need at least 2-3 weeks of rehab, plus he’s going to need to play himself into shape since he hasn’t played since September. I don’t see him playing any meaningful role for us this season, I think at this point the club’s focus needs to be on getting him back healthy and ready to go at the start of next season.

Squillaci is still out, although Wenger has not revealed exactly how long his absence is for. Diaby is out. Frimpong is out. Almunia is off doing whatever it is he’s doing nowadays. The other big piece of news is that Flaps is suffering from shoulder inflammation and is “50/50″ for the West Ham match. How in the world he got shoulder inflammation from sitting on the bench for a week is beyond me, but there it is. Sagna is still suspended. van Persie and Nasri should be back in the team for this one.

Here’s my best guess at a lineup for this one:

Wojo

Eboue-Koscielny-Djourou-Clichy

Wilshere-Song

Theo-Cesc-Nasri

van Persie

Bench: Flaps, Miquel, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Arshavin, Chamakh

I say Flaps won’t be healthy enough to start, based mainly on the fact that the official site chose Wojo as the player to give the official pre-match interview, which may be a slight tip of the hand. Eboue starts out right with Sagna suspended, and Clichy comes back into the side after his domestic cup break. Djourou has played a lot lately, but I can’t see Wenger going with Miquel in a league game yet. Jack and Song play in the withdrawn roles, Cesc is pushed forward, and is flanked by Theo and Nasri, with RvP up top. That’s right — the return of Theo van Nasregas.

A lot of players had chances to show Wenger that they should be given opportunities in the first XI over the last couple of matches. Instead, we couldn’t score from open play and couldn’t beat two lower division sides. Eboue, Denilson, Arshavin, and Bendtner were all given the chance to show Wenger they are ready to help the team win trophies, but they all completely failed to do so. It’s like they showed up to a play audition where the casting directors specifically asked them to come prepared with a modern monologue, but they showed up with a monologue from “Othello” memorized. And then, instead of just reading their “Othello” monologue, they just took their pants off and took a huge dump right on the casting table. Not getting the part any time soon, in other words. I excluded Gibbs from this grouping, because I think he performed well in both games and has shown that he should be given a run out, if he could just stay healthy for more than two weeks.

WHY don't you frakking run?!

Anyway, I have Bendtner, Vela, and Ramsey dropped from the squad. But don’t be surprised if it’s Miquel, either — yes, I know that leaves us with only 2 center backs, but I get the sense that if one of them should get injured, Wenger would rather pull Song back to the backline than put Miquel into a league match. And if that’s the case, then there’s no point in having him on the bench, other than the hope that drunken West Ham hooligans taunt him so mercilessly about his Justin Bieber hair that he goes to the barber and gets a hairdo that makes him look like a grown man.

We play in the late game (5:30 p.m. UK time, 12:30 p.m. EST). Game is televised on Fox Soccer in the United States, on Sportsnet1 in Canada, and on ESPN in the UK. We have generally played well when we have a Wilshere-Song-Cesc-Nasri-Theo-van Persie front 6, but we’ve been pretty crap when we’ve changed in anyone to the group the last few weeks, which is both puzzling and troubling. Maybe it’s a scenario when we just need one goal to get things set back into place and get everyone back on the same page. Let’s hope so, anyway.

In other action, Spurs host Manchester United on Sunday, so at least one of those teams will drop points. It’s definitely a chance for us to either close in on United and/or pull away from Spurs. Chelsea host Blackburn and Manchester City host Wolves, so we can’t count on either of those sides dropping points. There is also the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Sunday. We’ve got a very winnable run of games coming up in front of us, but if this season, in particular the last week or so, have taught us anything, it’s that there’s no team we can’t fail to beat, so I’m not looking ahead beyond this match. Let’s just get 3 points from this one and proceed from there.

Come on Arsenal.

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Category: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview, West Ham

Tags: Arsenal News, Fixtures, Premiership, Preview, West Ham
Tweet « Cesc’s Comments Unhelpful Following Abject Display By Gunners | Home | FelegyWhen was the last time that Chamakh got a start? I know RvP needs to get his playing time but Chamakh was scoring for us before seemingly taking his place behind RvP in the pecking order. It puzzles me that Chamakh was playing as well as he was and has now been put on the bench?Ahelling01confused about vermaelen. most recently wenger said his injury news was "quite good." The Vermaelen surgery story seems like a bunch of shit.SairaxScott Parker looks like such a preppie, but when he gets on the pitch he's like a bulldog. I enjoy watching him play.KxevinI still have no idea why you all didn't snag Milito. I'm sure he would have loved to come to Arsenal, another side that plays football, and uses its center backs in the offense. He's going to Malaga instead. Bummer for us, as we have yet to play them.

He's been very healthy since coming back from his long-term outage, which was quite the cock-up by the previous regime's physios. Early rumors had you on the radar for his services. He would have been perfect, in my opinion.

Fabregas' recent comments are what a captain is supposed to say in public. Guarantee that in private, different things were said. Players know better. I'm one of those weirdos who think that collective karma affects a team. Those two years that Barca didn't have any silver, our fans did a lot of whining and grumbling about how much we sucked, and weren't going to win anything, etc, etc. And we didn't. Stay the course, support the side and stay positive. The season is about peaks and valleys. You're in a valley right now, but so is the rest of the Prem. You'll come out fine.MartinI wish we'd gone in for Milito too if he was willing to be a squad player for us, which I'm not certain he would have been. Mainly because he and I were born on the exact same day (along with former Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior). We'll get someone, I'm sure, I'm just not sure it's going to be someone anyone is all that happy with.SairaxI'd tread lightly before taking on Iggy and his hair. The gooner gals will be after you. He's quite the popular one.MartinWell, they already think I'm a terrible sexist oppressor anyway, so I've pretty much given up on being in their good graces.SairaxWhat are you talking about? LPGs love you Martin! Trust me, I've put in a good word for you. Little banter never hurt anyone.MartinYeah, there was just that one time when I made what to me seemed an uncontroversial point -- that if male Arsenal tweeters sexualized women in the same way that some of them sexualized the Arsenal players, they would be ostracized as creepy weirdo perverts. People started to get mad at me, then I had to go pick MLSF up at the car dealership where she bought a new car, and I came back home an hour and a half later and checked twitter and they were still ranting in all caps about how anyone who has this sort of discussion with them thinks that they are not real fans and that women should be wearing burkas and staying in the kitchen.

I do like those people, and don't actually have a problem with their shtick, but I was kind of amazed by how they reacted to that. Figured I had made their black list for sure.BinhaOh thought I'd say my piece here :) Martin, I personally don't have any problems with you, none at all! I'm sorry if you thought that way,and I'm sorry for overreacting that day with the discussion. It's like Sairax said, I won't speak in the name of others, but I think I was just a little touchy with the subject already, having people making comments about us that weren't true without even knowing us. And what hurt me the most was seeing someone who actually talked to us saying things, even though he later apologized saying it was just 'a joke'. Maybe I should have cleared things up with you earlier, but anyways, just wanna let you know that I like you, you're a great gooner, I really enjoy reading your posts here because you're intelligent and I value your opinion!

Even though I don't comment here, I'm always reading what you guys write, and I think the both of you do a fantastic job here :) Keep it up!MartinThanks, I appreciate that, especially the kind words about the blog. And like I said, I have no problem with you guys at all, and my feelings certainly weren't hurt or anything like that, I was just a bit surprised at how quickly the conversation went in that direction.

And I'm pretty sure I know who the "just a joke" person is, and trust me, given how accurate any of his "inside source" transfer rumors turn out to be, he's the last person whose opinion I would be worried about if I were you.BinhaGood that's all cleared up now :)

And yes, agreed on that someone that just likes to throw rumours around and see if one of them will eventually turn out to be true. I have no patience for it at all.SairaxYeah I know, I followed that discussion lol I don't think they hold anything against you because they have gotten worse from other people, so I think the discussion kept going because a couple others got into it. Maybe you just hit a button because I've seen some harsh comments directed at them in the past by others, so it probably just reminded them of that.MartinMy conjecture on Flaps and Wojo was, in fact, correct -- Wenger confirmed at his press conference today that Flaps is out, which means Wojo will start. Interesting to see if they can fish Almunia out of the gutter and sober him up enough to get him to sit on the bench, or whether James Shea gets a free front-row seat to the match. (or whether Flaps's injuries is one of those "not fit enough to start, but fit enough to come off the bench if we need him" things). He also confirmed that Nasri and RvP are back in the squad.

Other tidbits from the press conference and elsewhere:

-- Ryo Miyaichi failed to get his work permit (this was reported a couple of days ago), and will go out on loan somewhere in Holland.

-- Says that his search for a new defender has taken him "anywhere and everywhere." But refuses to give names or percentages. Interesting rumor the last couple of days has been Matthew Upson (Wenger was asked about this directly in his interview with the official site yesterday, and got quite touchy about it, no idea how to take that), who is out of a contract at West Ham in the summer. Everyone on Twitter is very down on this, but I think we could do a lot worse as short-term cover. He's already familiar with the demands of the Premiership. Plus, he came up through the Arsenal academy so has some familiarity with the club, and already lives in London, so there would be no settling in/adjustment period. But would West Ham, fighting relegation, be willing to sell him at a bargain basement price to us? The other name that seems to be popping up is 34 year-old Juventus center-back Nicola Legrottaglie -- he can't get a game at Juventus so would presumably be very cheap, but whether or not he's any good at all, I can't say.

-- Asked about first-leg performance against Ipswich, Wenger said, "We will put it right in 2nd leg. We were very average and we'll put it right." I would say "average" is being a bit charitable, but good that he sounds confident and determined to turn it around.

SairaxRe: Fab shoulder. I believe before the Leeds game (might have been a different game, I forget) he fell on his shoulder during the warmup and they were worried for a sec but he was able to play. I think that might be how he picked up that knock.

Ryo will be going to Excelsior in Holland, which incidentally, was RvP's first club :)
OrionHighAsFuckWhy do I have a horrible feeling we're going to lose this match? The players better stop moaning and start playing real football, or I'm going to be pissed. Very pissed indeed.bapdumuh... i thought sagna was suspended not injured?MartinFixed now. I did say he was suspended the first time I mentioned it, but my brain must have shorted out the second time, not sure why I wrote injured instead of suspended. But thanks for the catch.Tonyblomer81One thing that hasn't been mentioned since the Ipswich debacle,is that our players are some of the highest earners in the league,and even allowing that all players have a loss of form from time to time,I see very few who really identify with the fans when they are playing.We used to have heroes,people flocked to buy the shirts,but now there is always the uncertainty as to how committed the players are to the club,as contracts and agents can make a mockery of the papers they sign.We will most probably beat Ipswich at home,but whoever plays in a scenario if we get to Wembely,will we get a performance from the team.IMO we are in a false position and in the worse case if we lose in both cup competitions,AW will still be in charge to face Barcelona,and i bet you if we beat them over 2 legs there is no guarantee we will advance further.In other words there is no consistency in our performances,and this rotation policy isn't working as we don't have a good enough squad.i could name up to 6 players who can't justify their selection,but nothing will change,and though I hope I am wrong, but this looks like another season of nearly achieving a trophy.We are becoming the Tim Henman of football.SounakAbsolutely spot on about that Tim Henman comment!paulySpot on mate. Do Ipswich (or indeed any physical football team) have the right to bemoan other teams for 'always keeping the ball on the ground, passing it around so quickly and skillfully, god i wish these teams would just hoof it upfield so we can defend the way we do best ....'. God comments like that from Fabregas really grinds my gears. If you don't like the diversity of the english game, jog on ...Illinois Gooner"grinds my gears"...classic Peter Griffin.blog comments powered by Disqus