In a classic, West Ham and Arsenal fought out a stunning 3-3 draw.
Arsene Wenger had said this week, rather dauntingly, that his team had to win every game remaining if they were to sustain their title hopes. Leicester, 11 points ahead of them going into this round of fixtures, are much more concerned with Tottenham and, in hindsight, Wenger’s words might have placed unwanted pressure on an Arsenal squad that has more than once been described as fragile. This match had started so promisingly for the visitors, with two goals scored in first 35 minutes, but it all came tumbling down, as an Andy Carroll hat-trick turned the match around. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil’s goals were cancelled out by the towering Carroll, in truly frightening aerial form. It ended in parity, a superlative 3-3 scoreline, and, having been two goals down, West Ham finished disappointed not to have won.
Formations
Slaven Bilic started with a three-at-the-back formation, with James Tomkins, Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna all starting. Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio were placed as wing backs, with license to roar forwards. Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet swirled around the imposing Carroll, who was the lone striker.
Arsene Wenger played an identical team to that that beat Watford last weekend, which was a surprise, considering Petr Cech was fit enough to make the bench against Watford. Many expected Wenger to reinstate his first-choice keeper, but Ospina remained, thoroughly undersized when compared to West Ham’s strapping striker. Alex Iwobi retained his roving attacking role, and Alexis Sanchez was enlivened on the right hand flank.
Carroll batters Arsenal, on his return to the starting XI.
Diafra Sakho, the first choice striker since his return to full fitness, was scratched late, not even deemed healthy enough to make the bench. Subsequently, Andy Carroll started in the Premier League for the first time in three months for West Ham, tightly braided and ready to flex against an Arsenal backline that has, historically, had trouble with powerful aerial presences. With Bilic arranging a cradling formation to suit the striker, focused on producing in wider areas, Carroll played his part, and how.
In the first half alone, Carroll had an overhead assist wrongly ruled out for offside, scored a textbook header, and spanked home a waist-high bouncing ball, having chested down a cross in the box. Meanwhile, Arsenal had scored twice, so Carroll’s goals snatched back parity, but it was clear that the Geordie was being allowed – or was, in fact, seizing – far too much control in the final third.
West Ham, having fought back spectacularly, were in the ascendancy entering the second half, and so, still, was Carroll. After Michail Antonio easily brushed past a helpless Nacho Monreal, he stood up a floating ball at the far post, the metaphorical shred of chuck steak flung to Carroll’s ravenous tiger. Carroll ate it up, and took his hat-trick goal, deflecting slightly off Koscielny. Enner Valencia was an unused substitute here, and might have been preferred in place of Carroll. But Bilic’s instincts, sensing a weakness in his opponent’s armour, were spot on, as Carroll lanced through Arsenal with a crunch.
Three at the back befuddles West Ham, but Bilic corrects the issue.
Slaven Bilic returned his twice-used three-at-the-back formation, seen previously against Everton and Spurs, and his team took a little time to relearn their roles in it. Reid, Ogbonna and Tomkins all started as centre backs, as wing backs Antonio and Cresswell charged into the Arsenal half, and, in truth, the extra centre back only confused the marking. With Ozil and Iwobi enjoying the challenge of threading the ball through this thready tapestry, the central defenders seemed caught permanently in a disastrous limbo between coming out to meet them, and hanging back to cover the runners.
It was from these situations that Arsenal scored their first two goals, with a porous, disorganised Hammers defence allowing streaking runners to collect straight passes. Ozil and Sanchez both scored, with Reid and co. at a standstill, onlookers and nothing more. The system did, however, allow West Ham to create a number of excellent crossing opportunities; seemingly, with wing backs, this was entirely the point of the formation. West Ham levelled the game breathlessly in this way, but their void in midfield had to be corrected, and Bilic did so at half time.
Replacing Tomkins with Emmanuel Emenike, Cheikhou Kouyate was allowed to drop further back and disrupt the Arsenal attackers. Iwobi and Ozil had had the run of the high midfield in the first half, but were denied the pleasure in the second, with no significant reduction in West Ham productivity on the flanks.
In a tactical discussion, Arsenal’s problems lie, tediously, outside the margins.
Having luckily avoided conceding the opening goal, Arsenal soared into a 2-0 lead. Things were going well, their attackers were finding pleasant space in which to work, and their opponents – who had been enjoying a seven-match unbeaten streak, and an even longer streak at home – were reeling in front of their lot. The title race, as their manager had urged this week, wasn’t over just yet. But then Andy Carroll scored once, and Arsenal collapsed, conceding a second goal to the same player three minutes later. Seven minutes into the second half, Carroll’s third goal flew in, and now Mesut Ozil’s – not Wenger’s – assertions seemed the truer; Arsenal were indeed “screwing up” their title tilt.
Although they struggled back to 3-3, this result might well have wrung the death knell for Arsenal’s title chances. If Leicester beat Sunderland – which they are more than equipped to do – further ground will have been lost by the Gunners, with six games remaining. The old cliches crumble tediously in the mouth, like wodges of cornflour, but there they are, persistently, painfully relevant; Arsenal are still, evidently, devoid of the sort of mettle required to successfully pursue a Premier League title. There was relatively little wrong with Wenger’s tactics here; perhaps Mertesacker might have been used, to combat Carroll, or Giroud brought on a littler earlier. More might have been done to re-involve Alex Iwobi in the second half, who was absolutely anonymous. But really this was a simple failing of character.
Now, there is no shame in succumbing to what is the most ferocious, compelling West Ham side in recent memory, but teams expecting to win the title cannot throw away two-goal leads, as the season reaches its crescendo. What can be done to rectify this? Well, nothing that Wenger has done, in the last decade, has solved anything as far as the league is concerned and now, in this, the most open Premier League season in some time, the old mental failings have blighted his team once again.
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