{"id":6082,"date":"2022-04-29T17:44:30","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T16:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6082"},"modified":"2022-05-02T20:08:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T19:08:06","slug":"its-only-a-london-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6082","title":{"rendered":"It’s Only a London Derby!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Wet Spam Firm in 2017. Credit: Rex Features<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday afternoon we travel the short distance across London to the London Stadium (the Olympic Stadium that was virtually given to West Ham) for a vital London Derby. At least, it\u2019s vital as far as we are concerned: it may be a game that West Ham feel they could well do without, sandwiched as it is between the two legs of the Europa League semi-finals against Eintracht Frankfurt. The first (home) leg was on Thursday night and did not go well. West Ham conceded in the first minute or so and eventually went down to a 2-1 defeat to a decent German side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched the game with a slightly mischievous view. I wanted West Ham to eventually reach the Final but every time a claret and blue shirted player went down I hoped he had sustained a very slight injury that they would not want to aggravate on Sunday so that they would recover for the second leg. The Hammers are already missing Craig Dawson, sent off at The Bus Stop last week. The cat-volleying oaf Zouma returned last night but they may not want him to play two high intensity games in three days after a long injury absence. Last week they did not start Antonio, Bowen, or Rice, possibly their three most talented players, and I\u2019d suggest they do exactly the same this weekend. Best not take any chances eh?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\u2019s season has been likened to a rollercoaster by no less an authority than our manager but Mikel probably called it a \u2018Monta\u00f1a rusa\u2019. Certainly it has progressed in phases – a disastrous start, a recovery, a late autumn blip followed by a goal splurge and a steady accumulation of points until a recent run of four defeats in five. But the last two wins in high-profile games against the Chavs and ManUre have restored momentum and made us again the bookies favourites for the final Champions League place. The battle to secure that is probably down to a straight fight between us and our beloved neighbours from Middlesex. They face a home match against a Leicester side who are also facing a stiff away semi-final leg in Rome on Thursday. I think to maintain momentum they have to pick their strongest side on Sunday and to use the lift they get from beating the Totts to help them through next Thursday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our revival has coincided with the selection of Eddie Nketiah upfront and the much-maligned Mohammed Elneny in midfield. Missing Partey and Tierney we have seen the deployment of Nuno Tavares possibly simultaneously one of the best attacking full backs in the Premier League\u2026and one of the worst defensively! Nuno may find himself out of the team on Sunday as Tomayisu returned to the team in the latter stages against United. If he starts on Sunday we might see Cedric move to left-back. The return of a properly fit Tomi will be incredibly welcome. Otherwise I think the team (injuries and illness permitting) is probably quite easy to divine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My guess is that it will be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomayisu White Gabriel Cedric<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elneny Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka Odegaard Smith-Rowe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subs – Leno, Holding, Tavares, Lokonga, P\u00e9p\u00e9, Lacazette, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would be interesting to ask Holics to guess the outcome of the 145 fixtures we have played since we first met in 1906. So I will: how many of those have we won\u2026and lost? Answers at the end. It is certainly a fixture with an unusual scoreline which recurs regularly – 3-3!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s away game was a 3-3 draw after we had trailed 3-0 after half an hour. A few seasons before an Andy Carroll hat-trick failed to win the game for them after we had led 2-0 and trailed 3-2! I\u2019ve seen us play West Ham away a number of times . In recent years it has become a safer endeavour than visiting Upton Park in the sixties and seventies. The Inter City Firm were a very dangerous crew and on one occasion murdered an Arsenal fan (in 1979) at Highbury. The London Stadium is a much more civilised place but it\u2019s manifestly not a proper football stadium like Upton Park despite the fact that my then seven year-old grandson (a Gooner) claimed it was \u2018 old and smelly\u2019 when he visited it shortly before it closed. I visited their new home for a bland 0-0 draw and sat in the Wet Spam version of club level. My mood was not improved when using the loo a very happy Hammer pointed out the claret and blue tiled club crest over the urinals. \u2018All this for \u00a32 and a half million. Good old Boris!\u2019  If ever there was an example of a playing field tilted in a club\u2019s favour that decision by the then London Mayor was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what can we expect on Sunday? Predictions are hard to get right with our rather inconsistent team but it is a game that has fallen at a very good time for us. West Ham had a very tough and rather dispiriting game yesterday. They must have more than one eye on Thursday\u2019s second leg and they will surely rotate a squad that is smaller than ours. So we have a real chance to get three points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching the last-16 win over Seville and the crowd going ballistic it struck me how much smaller a club West Ham is than Arsenal. I don\u2019t write that deliberately in a superior way but qualifying for the last eight of the Europa League would not cause the outpouring of joy in N5 that West Ham\u2019s success did. That preoccupation with a chance to make real club history must dominate their thinking at the moment and hopefully we can profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bet365 have West Ham to win at 10\/3, Arsenal 4\/5 and the draw is 14\/5. Arsenal to win 3-1 is available at 18-1 and I\u2019m going to suggest that our freshness, the incentive of securing CL football and the Hammers\u2019 preoccupation with Thursday may see us prevail by this score. But at the same time I\u2019ve a nagging feeling, probably caused by our recent inconsistency, that it won\u2019t be that straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for our all time record against  the Hammers (including Cup games) of the 145 games we have won 70, West Ham 35, with 45 drawn. In our five trips to the London Stadium we\u2019ve won twice, drawn twice and lost to a Declan Rice goal in 2019. That\u2019s a pretty positive record. Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful if we could be five points clear of the Marshdwellers on Sunday night ? Their next game is at Anfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimable C100 and son are going. Wishing them and any other Holics a safe and very satisfying trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday afternoon we travel the short distance across London to the London Stadium (the Olympic Stadium that was virtually given to West Ham) for a vital London Derby. At least, it\u2019s vital as far as we are concerned: it may be a game that West Ham feel they could well do without, sandwiched as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6082"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6102,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6082\/revisions\/6102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}