After a dismal display in the first half, Arsenal responded to beat West Ham United and took 4th place back, for a day at least!
Arsenal was lucky not to be 2 goals behind after 40 minutes. Matt Jarvis jumped over a sloppy Sagna challenge and the referee failed to award a penalty. Olivier Giroud whiffed at a great chance from a cross and feebly tried and failed to chip the goalkeeper when through one-on-one.
Jarvis scored the scrappy opening goal. It was the type of goal Arsenal always seems to concede. Antonio Nocerino made a run from midfield and shot on goal, and Wojciech Szczesny could only parry the ball into the middle of the box, and Jarvis headed the rebound in.
Make no mistake, no player should take a larger share of the blame for the goal than Szczesny himself.
The boy is not improving. Everton constantly exploited the space in between our center backs and full-backs two weeks ago, and West Ham did so as well for their opening goal. Szczesny needs to be the general shouting orders at his defense. He has the vantage point to communicate with the defense and get their positioning right. He is consistently failing in that role.
The positioning was horrible again last night. Koscielny was in the middle of the box and Vermaelen had followed his mark all the way to the touchline. Nocerino's run wasn't tracked well by Kallstrom, either, but Koscielny needed to be in a better position to tighten the gap between the two.
Furthermore, Szczesny's tendency to give up a rebound in a very dangerous position hurt Arsenal yet again. Nocerino's shot came from an impossible angle near the endline. Szczesny was standing on his near post and covering the entire goal. It was impossible for Nocerino to score. But Szczesny's parry put the ball in a more dangerous area than from where the Italian's shot came.
Szczesny needs to do better from that position. A top goalkeeper for a top club either puts that ball out for a corner or smothers it and gives his team possession.
I frankly feared the worst after the opener. Luckily Szczesny was not tested again. West Ham had just two shots on target all match, Nocerino's shot from the endline and Jarvis's headed goal on the rebound. The younger of Arsenal's two polekeepers failed his only test.
Thank God every other Arsenal player passed their tests in flying colors.
Santi Cazorla was thoroughly excellent in midfield after playing the full 2 hours at Wembley Saturday. Mikel Arteta also did not let the fatigue get to him, and the Spaniard had one of his best games all season. Kim Kallstrom was great in his first start. His willingness to try ambitious longer passes made the Arsenal attack more diverse and unpredictable. And Stewart Downing's pinpoint pass to Cazorla set up Arsenal's equalizer.
Wait, Downing plays for West Ham? Could have fooled me last night.
Olivier Giroud scored a fantastic goal from a Kallstrom-esque long pass by Vermaelen--who did very well at left back last night (although again...Stewart Downing...). Giroud's first touch took the ball down incredibly well and his finish nutmegged the West Ham goalkeeper to take the lead.
Giroud's first touch may be as good as I've ever seen for a player his size. His importance to Arsenal's possession game is huge. He provides the focal point for the midfielders to play around, and his deft one-touch passing can turn opposing defenders inside-out. This first touch has led to fantastic assists to Rosicky and of course Wilshere in two candidates for goal of the season. Today he made another goal of the year candidate for himself from the complete opposite type of chance, a long ball. He just needs to finish more consistently to be the top class striker Arsene Wenger believes he can be.
Maybe Giroud should take lessons from his teammate, Lukas Podolski. Podolski has finishing down to a science. The German was the man of the match. After being visibly and vocally frustrated with his substitution at Wembley, Podolski scored two unstoppable shots when he received the ball in dangerous positions.
The first came five minutes after West Ham's opener. Downing's "clearance" found Cazorla just outside the box and Cazorla fed Podolski on the left side of the penalty area. The German took a touch with his right and coolly slotted the ball in the far post with his left before the defense could react and get back into a compact position.
The second put Arsenal up by 2 goals and ended the game. Aaron Ramsey's header put Podolski in a dangerous position, and the German let the ball roll onto his left foot and fired a powerful shot directly over the goalkeeper's head. The shot was so strong that the keeper had no time to react and get his hands up to stop it.
The win puts Arsenal back in 4th place, for a day at least. Everton hosts Crystal Palace at Goodison later today. But looking at the schedule ahead, no match will pose a similar challenge in the run-in. The FA Cup Final is after the season ends, so Arsenal will get plenty of time to rest in between the remaining matches.
With Flamini returning and reports that Mesut Ozil will also be available for the Hull match on Sunday, things are finally looking up for the Arsenal.
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