West Ham 1-2 Arsenal – 03/01/10 – (FA Cup 3rd Round) 4 January, 2010

For a long time there I thought we were following Man United out in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Oh how we had all laughed at United for losing against old foes Leeds earlier in the day with a strong team out – I thought there was a bit of Karma on the way yesterday evening…

It took a very late turn around to keep us in the cup and we will now face Stoke away in the next round. Not the easiest of ties, but it’s typical of us to get Premiership sides all the way and for Chelsea to almost get a bye to the final by drawing The Red Lion Inn’s Sunday XI every fucking year.

Yesterday’s team selection shocked me a bit, we had Sagna, Vermaelen and Gallas all starting which was a bonus I guess but I was expecting at least two of them to be rested. On the left we had Silvestre, which had me worried from the start. In front of Song we had Ramsey and Merida with Eduardo, Vela and Wilshere making up the front three. Senderos and Rosicky weren’t even on the bench, which says a lot about the both of them really.

West Ham had to field a weakened side with all those injures and a place in the Premier League at stake. As much as they love it, the FA Cup is not high on their priorities this year. It wasn’t a bad side though and they still had players that could hurt us.

They were quick off the blocks and didn’t allow us any space. They were charging down every ball, winning all the 50:50s and were showing us there weren’t here to mess around. It took us a bit by shock really and we struggled for most of the game. They packed the midfield and we could not find any space to play our football.

West Ham scored right at the end of the first half. I didn’t think the first 45 minutes were really worthy of a goal but quick thinking from the home side and a defensive mistake by us allowed Diamanti to make it 1-0. He was Silvestre’s man but just as the ball was being played through to him he stepped up to play him offside, however there was another defender playing him on and he went one-on-one to score. Fabianski did well to get a hand to it but couldn’t keep it out.

It wasn’t really working for us and at the break I thought we could even make some changes now. I knew Wenger would leave it 10 minutes or so but something needed to be done soon.

We needed to start the second half brightly but it was the home side that came out again with a bang. They could’ve gone two up inside the first five minutes when they caught us out on the left (Silvestre’s side) a couple of times but one great save from Fabianski and a bit of luck kept it at 1-0.

I was screaming out for the substitutions at this point. Merida and Wilshere looked well out of their depth; in the first half Jack gave the ball away twice in a row in our final third, almost as if he was trying to set up the club he supported as a boy. He was getting muscled out of every challenge and showed everyone calling for his first team chance that he’s not ready. Merida didn’t have a great first half either but I swear to God he didn’t complete a pass in the second half. I had my eye on him to see if he picked up his game but he seemed to get worse.

Finally after 65 minutes Wenger did exactly what I would’ve done. A double substitution, Merida and Wilshere off, Diaby and Nasri on – and their impact was immediate. The trickery, composure and vision of Nasri gave us that little bit extra we needed going forward and the strength, power and skill of Diaby coming through the midfield was penetrating West Ham with ease.

It lifted the whole side and we actually looked like a team that could score now. We we’re in desperate need of a goal and time was running out.

We needed a bit of luck and a bit of composure in front of goal and we got it 12 minutes from time. The move started from the right and was played to Song unmarked on the edge of the box, he picked out Vela who tried to poke it through to Ramsey first time. It hit the defender but luckily it came back to him and whilst falling over he managed to get it to Ramsey who on the turn hit it first time into the far corner. A great finish and a nicely worked goal, Ramsey ran into the fans going wild behind the goal and I think he was lucky enough to escape a booking.

Five minutes later we completed the turn-around. Vela again with the assist – a great cross from the left wing. He didn’t have much to aim at in the middle but set it up nicely for Eduardo who completed his part of the bargain by somehow beating Upson to the header. And what a header it was, looping into the top corner giving Robert Green no chance. Not a goal many people thought we were capable of but what a goal it was.

There was no chance of West Ham coming back. It was a nervous last few minutes but looking back it was all Arsenal. We had a couple of chances to finish it off with a third, I think it was Vela who had one cleared off the line but it ended up 2-1.

Once again not a 90 minutes to be proud of but we got the result and results are all that matters in the cup. Next up we have Stoke but that match comes just a few days before that run of tricky games in the league so I’m afraid that it’s going to be probably an even weaker side. The series of games following that are incredibly important to our league challenge and I think I will let Wenger off this time if we have to sacrifice the FA Cup, it’s not nice to have to do that but it just how our fixtures have come this season. Well I hope our squad is good enough to go through but you have to think about the greater importance.

We’ll think about that nearer the time. Thanks for reading.