Archive for January 2nd, 2008

Arsenal 2 – 0 West Ham: Front Two Make It Routine

Add comment January 2nd, 2008

It’s amazing what an early goal can do to kill a game. As soon as Eduardo da Silva’s second minute strike hit the net, there was a strong sense of inevitability surrounding the result. Although West Ham mustered a decent response, coming close through Carlton Cole and the returning Freddie Ljungberg, Emmanuel Adebayor soon put the game beyond any doubt with another route one goal.

2-0 is a very routine result, and this was a very routine game. The crowd wasn’t overly interested, and nor were the players. On other occasions this season we’ve seen them chase third, fourth and even fifth goals, but yesterday they knew that two was more than enough.

Meanwhile, after their exertions in beating Man U at the weekend, West Ham didn’t seem remotely capable of launching a realistic challenge – their midfield contained John Pantsil and John Spector, two defenders, and Hayden Mullins, who once spent an entire season at centre-back. Add to that the fact that Alan Curbishley didn’t introduce Dean Ashton until the 71st minute, and the scale of West Ham’s lack of ambition becomes clear.

Fair play to their fans though. This paragraph from fansite Knees Up Mother Brown gives you an idea of the kind of entertainment they provided:

On the half-hour it was cult hero time. Cole found himself out wide on the right and put in a cross for Pantsil whose overhead kick was only a foot or two off target with the keeper scrambling nervously. This cued up some of the funniest chants I’ve heard in ages, mostly aimed toward Pantsil. My particular favourite was the “he came from Africa, he’s better than Kaka” one, partly for the diabolical liberties taken with the usual conventions of rhyme and partly because of the humorous irony involved. There was also the return of the old “let’s pretend we scored a goal” interludes – prompting a subsidiary chant of “Spector’s on a hat-trick”. However Pantsil seemed to be the main subject matter of the songwriting talent on display, his name replacing many old favourites.

My favourite was a slightly psychotic scream of “You’ll never buy John Pantsil”. No, no we won’t.

Our goals, when they came, were both good, aswell as being somewhat indicative of the players who scored them. Eduardo’s clinical strike came when Cesc Fabregas combined well with Tomas Rosicky to cross into the West Ham penalty. The Croatian was unmarked, and able to take the ball on his chest before firing it low into the bottom corner. His general play is still a way off, but when presented with an opportunity he just doesn’t miss.

The second, like two of the goals at Everton, came from a long ball by Gael Clichy. This time, Adebayor pulled out his battering ram impression to charge between the centre-backs and nod the ball beyond Robert Green before back-spinning the ball in from the tightest of angles.

Eduardo had got his 10th in all competitions (including five in his last three starts), whilst Adebayor netted his 12th Premier League goal. Until Robin van Persie returns, these two could form a useful partnership.

Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue were playing their last games before going off to the African Nations, and they will be joined in that venture by Alex Song, who will now miss the continuation of our Carling Cup run.

Now it’s 2008, Mathieu Flamini is free to dicuss a pre-contract agreement with anyone he likes. With Juventus circling, we ought to get a move on with those contract talks as soon as possible. More on our transfer window activity tomorrow.

50 points. Not bad eh.


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