Arsenal travel to the home of the former European champions and the fourth or fifth (or perhaps even sixth) biggest club in London on Saturday night. I am of course talking about the perennial mediocrity merchants, West Ham United.
I think most Gooners will agree with me when I say there isn’t really much needle between Arsenal and West Ham, at least not in the manner we share with Spurs and Chelsea. When you ask any West Ham fan who they consider to be their biggest rival many would say Millwall with healthy dollops of the marsh dwellers and Spartak Chelski 03. I don’t think too many would say Arsenal. With the over saturation of London clubs in the Premier League, this is really just another London Derby. We play 12 every year making over 30% of our league games (if my maths is correct) London Derbies. The rest of the country must be sick of us all.
Personally, I’ve never felt any deep resentment towards The Hammers. It’s maybe risen a tad in the past 18 months with their tinpot champions of Europe chant and their obsession with Declan Rice but other than that they’re an all right bunch I suppose.
Another part of it is they’ve been pretty rubbish for an awfully long time, so we’ve never really competed with them for anything. They did beat us in the 1980 FA Cup final, but CER had a full head of hair back then and 1980 is closer to Germany’s invasion of Poland than it is to the present day so that just goes to show how long ago it was. West Ham came into this season on the back of a three-year European tour which yielded a couple of deep runs in the Europa League and a triumph in the Conference League, but their fans spent most of it moaning about the bloke who brought that about and eventually they got their wish as David Moyes left and in came Spaniard, Julen Lopetegui to much anticipation. They currently sit 14th in the table after 12 games with 15 points. Be careful what you wish for lads!
In fairness, most people expected them to do a lot better as they do have a number of very good players such as Jarrod Bowen, Kudus and Paqueta. But they are often porous at the back and that has probably been their biggest downfall. However, they do come into this game off the back of an unexpected 2-0 victory over Newcastle at St James’ Park which is not an easy place to go as we know all too well.
We did suffer that 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham last Christmas and that proved to be one of the games that cost us the title so we will need to be right on it from the off tomorrow. Having said that, we hammered them 6-0 at their place a few weeks later, a game I had the pleasure of being at so a repeat of that would be lovely! The sight of their fans leaving in their droves before half time was without doubt one of the most glorious sights to greet my eyes. There was hardly anyone left to boo them off at full time. That was a fun day.
In terms of the team news, I wouldn’t be surprised if Arteta names an unchanged eleven from the side who ran riot in Lisbon although perhaps with fixture congestion in mind we may see one or two alterations. Merino for Partey and Trossard for Martinelli perhaps? Arteta did say in his press conference earlier that Gabriel’s fitness was to be “assessed” but I am going to assume he will start.
As for West Ham, Edson Alvarez will return from suspension, but Mohammed Kudus is serving the fifth and final game of his own suspension for his red at Spurs a while back. That’s a bit of luck for us because he really is a useful player.
As for my prediction, I am going for a healthy 3-0 away win. We’ve gone up several levels in the last two games, and that is no doubt largely down to the return of Ødegaard. I am backing him to get another assist tomorrow. We are very good and West Ham are largely mediocre so on paper this looks straightforward but football is in fact played on a field by 22 men so what looks reasonable on paper does often fly out of the window, but you can’t not be confident for this game if you are of an Arsenal persuasion. Let’s see.
COYG!!
Cheers, 21CG! A busy week for you. I seem to have found myself reading this blog twice in a row, without ever going back to the start. 😉
Didn’t realise Kudus was suspended, good news indeed!
Suspect this won’t be as easy as 3-0, but I’ll take 3-1.
Cheers 21CG – for goodness sake don’t let Esso see you say West Ham are an okay bunch.
He won’t be having that for a second and with good reason. Personally, I’ve been caught in the middle of some very nasty stuff with that mob – quite unintentionally – both at Highbury and Upton Park. Let’s say I agree with Esso.
I hope we play them off the park and thoroughly embarrass them. If they went down I’d be more than happy. Another 6-0 please.
And watch who you’re calling old, young man ! I was at that 1980 final. A Trevor Brooking header for goodness sake. He only ever did one in his entire career ! Pffttt !
PS – I would sympathise with Flappy if he went down 😉
Thanks 21CG, an excellent and upbeat preview reflecting
the last couple of games. I share your optimism
despite Wham winning last time.
They might be motivated by last seasons
humiliation I suppose but we should still
be too good.
Like Trev I don’t wish them well at all except
Flappy (and Mavro).
Thanks for a comprehensive and entertaining preview 21CR. It’s about the consistency for me, and I’d be happy with 3 points, a clean sheet and a little rotation. 1-0 to the Arsenal will do me very nicely.
COYG
PS. Ollie@1 – I know what you mean about deja vu; our keen and efficient staff has resolved the issue.
Ha, Pangloss. Swiftly done, well played. 🙂
And what Trev said @2 : the first person I thought of when reading certain lines in the preview was Esso. 😉
I do have a good mate living in Paris who supports them, so am more indulgent these days, although, really, he is, first and foremost, a Plymouth fan.
Thanks for setting the scene 21cg. That setback they dealt us last season still ticks me off, and I’m sure that bar Merino and Calafiori that it still ticks off Mikel and the rest of the team so nothing less than a 0-4 reversal should be called for in these circumstances, although as I am guessing that Arsenal are more stuck into reality than I (revenge being relatively pointless especially with Michael Oliver anywhere near the goings-on), the previously mentioned 0-1 could be just the order of the day (rather than a Don Corleone-style mob hit). COYG!
Wet Spam aren’t nearly as high up in my Hierarchy of Hatred as they are in Esso’s but they’re nowhere near as low as they appear to be in 21CG’s. They comfortably reflect their mediocrity in that table as well. Since 1980 appears to be classified as ‘Prehistory’ in 21CG’s calendar, it probably reflects, as Trev observes, his experience of Spammer fans in the extremely sanitised football culture of the Premier League era. I know several very decent Spammer fans but still remember vividly a tube journey in the early 80’s in a carriage full of shaven-headed, East End heavies with whom reasonable conversation would have been very difficult. Talk about non-crime hate incidents! Where was Yvette when we needed her?
Despite widespread optimism that the Scousers won’t maintain their current win rate when tougher fixtures come round, the points gap is already too large and three points today is our essential haul. Although good ol’ 1-0 to the Arsenal would be acceptable, something closer to last season’s drubbing would allow some second half rotation of key players before we face the once again, ‘new improved Manure’ with their umpteenth iteration of a ‘world class coach’.
COYG
Bath, I know exactly what you mean about skinheads in the tube. I was turfed out of a train at Plaistow because a gang of West Ham skinheads were trying to ram an Arsenal fans head against / through the tube window. Sickening incident. I was threatened T knife point on the North Bank at Highbury by a gang who wanted my scarf and we then had to hide in a garden in St Thonas’ Rd as a mob of West Ham fans a hundred or so strong rampaged through the street turning over hamburger stands, smashing windows and running over the tops of parked cars. They were a disgusting mob in the 70s and 80s. Anyone who disputes it should look up the ICF – their Stanley knife wielding Inter City Firm.
Arsenal XI
Raya, Calafiori, Gabriel, Saliba, Timber, Jorginho, Rice, Ødegaard (c), Saka, Havertz, Trossard.
Substitutes
Neto, Kiwior, Nichols, Nwaneri, Sterling, Tierney, Zinchenko, Jesus, Martinelli.
TP5 rested or injured I wonder. Merino missing from the bench too. Not a lot of midfield cover
Partey muscle problem
Merino knee problem
MLS no information
Thanks for an optimistic preview 21CG . Your premise is entirely correct but we do need to slip into the rhythm we found in our last two games . We are short in midfield .
Interesting to reflect on Wet Spam/ Arsenal rivalry. I can concur that Upton Park was a very scary place in the sixties and seventies .We vie for who hates Tottnumb most and I go through Stratford en route to Arsenal and have lots of intercourse with their fans. They haven’t been overimpressed with Lopetegui but no game is easy and they did well at Newcastle . I will go for my default 2-0 to the Arsenal ( Havertz and Trossard )
I guess MLS is out as KT3 is back in the squad and we are shorter on the right than left.
Hopefully short term for the TP5 and Merino.
COYG!!
Gabriel header from a corner 1-0!!
Brilliant again but some oddly woeful marking, it must be fairly obvious by now.
Game over at 36 minutes. What a performance. Even with that AWB goal. Stop with the relaxation.
Oh, another one 4-2
5-2 at half time, Flappy madness settling any nerves.
To be fair, Flappy was watching the ball, just missed it and clouted Gabriel.
An absolutely crazy first half. So dominant and then so slack for their first and then they score a cracker. Thank goodness for Flappy’s astigmatism. Now see this fucker out. Though I expect Gabi will not reappear for the second half – best not to!
Kiwior in for Gabriel, seems the wisest course.
10-4
Played out the 2nd half well enough.
Hopefully Gabriel and Cali are ok.
Wham learned nothing from last years
humiliation. I mean I don’t mind at all
but it seems a bit thick.
2-5. Second half not quite the watch the first was, but 3 points safe and secure. On to the next one.
OM at 24 Wham did learn one thing from last season. Get rid of Zouma. He was truly awful. Not that it made much difference.
As bt8 says on we go, we are in good form now and I hope we eviscerate Manure.
Job done. However, that bizarre spell at the end of the first half made the second half a tad more nervy than it should have been with a three goal lead and a team that has shown itself perfectly capable of seeing out a game with 11 men.
Hopefully Øde, Saka, Gabi and Cala will be fit for Wednesday night and Partey and Merino recover their fitness. I have seen far too many Arsenal teams that were superior to their Manure opponents fail to demonstrate that superiority within the game.
This week I would like us to demonstrate our superiority conclusively and to hear Neville choke on his bullshit..
What an extraordinary game! I really do not like that stadium. Two chants, not new.
Who put the ball in the West Ham net? Half our fucking team did!
Everywhere we goooo, stadiums are empty!
PS. I love it when we score from corners.
And both came across loyd and clear on the tv, C100! Nice work.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>