West Ham travelled North for their 2015-16 season opener having not won at the Emirates in eight years. But with industry and neat finishing, they left with a 2-0 victory, leaving Arsenal to wonder where, outside of Alexis Sanchez, a cutting edge for them might lie.
Slaven Bilic’s side set up to pack the midfield, attempting to nullify Arsenal’s attacking quartet of Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. As the match went on and the visitors in claret and blue became increasingly hard to live with, chances appeared on the counter and via set pieces which payed dividends as he Hammers opened the scoring with Cheikhou Kouyate nodding home from a precise Dimitri Payet free kick. Arsenal tried to force an equaliser, but found it impossible to consistently find ways through the West Ham defensive structure. Poor defending and baffling goalkeeping gifted Mauro Zarate a fine goal, and his team saw out the 2-0 victory, one earned through grit and pragmatism by a wholly second-choice West Ham XI.
Formations
West Ham were without a number of first team players, forcing a system that likely was not preferable. Firstly, Carl Jenkinson’s ineligibility to play against his parent club, and injury to Joey O’Brien, forced Bilic to start three centre-backs, James Tomkins on the right with Angelo Ogbonna and Winston Reid pairing in the middle.
Additionally, with Reece Oxford, Mark Noble and Kouyate starting in midfield, traditionally speaking all holding players, and only one attacking full-back, this West Ham line up had buckets of defensive steel but lacked width. New signing Payet arrived with the reputation of being a player who enjoyed roaming the central areas, as did Mauro Zarate, both starting behind Diafra Sakho. A 4-4-2 diamond, with an unfamiliar strike partnership, made for an odd setup, though one that ultimately proved effective.
As for Arsenal, it was clear that Arsene Wenger wanted a strong focal point up front, switching Theo Walcott out for Olivier Giroud. With three centre-backs to compete against, the manager evidently opted to try match firepower with the visitors. Of course, with Oxlade-Chamberlain also starting, pace and dynamism was still very much present in the front line. Sanchez only returned to training less than a week ago, so it was surprise to even see him on the bench. Arsenal lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, one always favoured by Wenger.
West Ham’s formation led to a lopsided approach front to back
With Payet and Aaron Cresswell on the left-hand side, the flank held arguably West Ham’s two most productive players going forward. Payet immediately looked at home, turning with guile, hesitating and dummying without any hint of nervousness. The visitors seemed to be deliberately directing their play out to the left in favour of attacking down the right. But the out-of-position Tomkins, instructed to hold his role on that right, became a target for Arsenal, and was found a lumbering lummox at times, with even Giroud – not known for his dribbling ability – seen jinking his way past the West Ham man. Cresswell had the pace to try and press higher up, to break up attacks building on his own flank, but Tomkins’ lack of mobility was exposed as he sat deep, and the Gunners passed or dribbled around him. It did not hurt West Ham as it might have, but it was a glaring weakness in Bilic’s system.
Oxford’s debut perfectly inauspicious, Cech less so
Perhaps the least experienced player in the Premier League lined up for West Ham, while Arsenal also unveiled their newest marquee signing in his first competitive match, one who happens to be one of the competition’s most experienced champions. And so, with two debutants, there could be only one fairytale beginning. Oxford, at 16-years-old, stifled Mesut Ozil for much of the 90 minutes, and received a huge ovation from the travelling fans when he departed midway through the second-half. His was a remarkably assured and sophisticated performance, the work exactly as inconspicuous as a no-nonsense holding-midfielder’s duties need to be.
Petr Cech on the other hand, apparently a crucial answer to a question that has been plaguing Arsene Wenger for years, fared far less well. Arguably at fault for both the goals, particularly Zarate’s excellent second, the ex-Chelsea shot-stopper’s debut was a torrid affair. For a player with such a stellar resume, Cech’s decision making and positioning was perfectly amateur here. Of course, this is not enough evidence to write him off as an asset for Arsenal, far from it. But the reason that Wenger bought him, and has seemed so pleased with him since then, was largely related to his fine cerebral abilities, that were absent today.
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West Ham’s rough diamond takes on Arsenal’s chemistry
This Arsenal attack has been brewing for a while now. With Sanchez, a player so good you can plug-and-play him into virtually any team, now on board, the rest should be approaching peak levels of chemistry. Ozil, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Ramsey and Giroud have all now been together for a while, perfecting their intuitive linked-up play, their back-and-forth displays of highly refined nimbleness. West Ham were trying to fill the spaces through which these Arsenal moments were threaded, with a tightly packed, deeply-positioned midfield diamond. In the first-half, more often than not, it worked. The Gunners would occasionally, as they must, sidle their way through, as if the West Ham players simply were not there, but most of these moments ended inconsequentially. After they rudely found themselves two goals behind, the subsequent increase in urgency did not do much to improve the chances created. “neat passing and no end product” has been the favourite stick with which to beat Arsenal teams over the last decade. Wenger’s attack, fluid as it is, cannot dither beautifully like this in every game if they expect to challenge for the title.
Tall timber made West Ham a constant set piece threat
With three centre-backs standing well over six feet, and Sakho also an excellent header of the ball, set pieces were the standing order for the Hammers. True enough, the opening goal stemmed from just this approach, mixed in with a bit of shoddy marking from the home team. With so many threats to try and contain, Arsenal’s defenders completely forgot about Kouyate, who ran onto a perfectly wedged Payet free kick to nod past a terribly out-of-position Cech. Bilic’s tactical decision, unhappily forced as it might have been, to play that extra centre back paid major dividends.
Chamberlain played the sole incisor role for Arsenal
There are few players able to suddenly turn on the accelerator quite like Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Arsenal winger has a remarkably quick first, then second and third step, and appears completely fearless when offered even the narrowest of channels to drive into. In an attack lacking in genuine pace, he was the exception, and troubled the West Ham defence more than any other Arsenal player in the opening-half. Even when he was moved to right-back to accommodate the substitutes Walcott and Sanchez, he still provided the most threatening moments for the hosts in the second-half. With Ozil invisible for much of this contest, and Walcott’s first touch heavier than a Lars von Trier narrative, ‘the Ox’ is certainly making a case for himself. He has exploded out of the blocks this season, with his goal in the Community Shield an emphatic way to stake your claim for a starting spot. Despite the result, he did his chances no harm here either.
Crucial to West Ham’s success was Zarate and Payet’s ability to turn
When a team intends to counter-attack without wingers, and with only one offensive minded full back, then there needs to be an abundance of guile in the middle. When opposition attacks are broken up and cleared, the player receiving that first pass will be under immense pressure almost instantly. Using Zarate and Payet, Bilic installed two highly gifted ball-retainers specifically to receive these crucial outlet passes. For West Ham’s system to work, these two needed to negotiate some tight situations, seducing the crowd with some sensational displays of foot-speed. Both managed to turn, create space for themselves, and either drive at the defence or release the indefatigable Sakho to run in behind. Without this function running smoothly, West Ham would never have found themselves in the position to, for example, win the free kick that led to the opening goal.
Conclusion
This was far from a smash-and-grab victory. West Ham earned their win, their first over Arsenal since 2009, by setting up to capitalise on the Gunners’ weaknesses – specifically set pieces – and countering theirs strengths. Wenger’s men, maybe expecting the sort of walkover that, until now, was customary in these fixtures, were short of ideas in attack, and were handicapped by a poor goalkeeping performance.
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