Arsenal Vs West Ham

Arsenal vs West Ham
15th April, 19:45 BST Kick Off
Emirates Stadium
Referee: Kevin Friend


Fight for Fourth

This must seem like a De Ja Vu, but Arsenal are back to the point where we always are every single season. Fighting for fourth spot in the premier League. However the difference this time is that our main competitor are not our bitter rivals Tottenham, but Everton who have kind of surprised many by being in this position to battle for the fourth place this season. In a way, Martinez deserves a lot of credit for it and that is perhaps a worry for Arsenal because in the past we were quite used to Tottenham crumble towards the end and nearly every manager of theirs bottling it but this season we have a new challenger and a team that is different in mentality and stature. Martinez himself is perhaps a better manager than AVP or Redknapp were. Hence, the fight will be more difficult than usual.

To make things worse, Arsenal had to play for 120 minutes on Saturday which have left a lot of players fatigued and that will be an advantage to the West Ham team that hasn't been in action for 10 days. We all know Big Sam likes his players to be physical and on tuesday against a jaded Arsenal team, it will be a really difficult game.

But rotation is key here. We do have a small squad with many injuries, but we can still rotate a bit. Kallstrom will surely start along with Rosicky maybe and Jenkinson perhaps. Interesting to see the team tomorrow.

Team News

Arsenal trio Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny may be back in the starting line-up following the FA Cup semi-final win over Wigan. But Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin), Nacho Monreal (dead leg) and Lukas Podolski (leg) are doubts.

West Ham captain Kevin Nolan has a hamstring injury and faces a late fitness test.
Joey O'Brien is back in training after a dislocated shoulder but George McCartney and Marco Borriello are out.

Probable Arsenal Team

-----------------------------------Szczesny---------------------------------

Sagna-------------Mertesacker-----------------Koscielny---------------Gibbs

---------------------Kallstrom----------------Arteta-------------------------

Rosicky----------------------------Cazorla---------------------------Podolski?

----------------------------Giroud---------------------------------------------

Probable West Ham Team

------------------------------Adrian----------------------------------------

Demel----------------Tomkins---------Reid---------------------Armero

-----------------Noble--------------Taylor----------------------------

Diame------------------Nolan------------------------------Downing

--------------------------Carroll----------------------------------------

Match Facts(fourfourtwo)

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 11 Barclays Premier League games against West Ham (W9 D2 L0), including winning the last six in a row.
  
• West Ham won their last Barclays Premier League away game – 2-1 at Sunderland. They haven't won two successive PL away matches since December 2007.
  
• Arsenal have won their last six matches against West Ham
  
• Lukas Podolski has scored in his last two league appearances against West Ham, Santi Cazorla has scored two in three games and
• Olivier Giroud three in three against the Hammers.
  
• West Ham are the only team that Arsenal have beaten after falling behind in the Premier League this season (W1 D4 L7).
  
• Arsenal have conceded first in their last four matches
  
• The only teams to have won more Premier League points against West Ham than Arsenal (73) are Liverpool (74) and Manchester United (80).
  
• The Gunners have won more points in London derbies than any other side this season in the Premier League (22).
  
• West Ham have had draw/draw results in their last eight away draws
  
• Arsenal have not lost a Premier League home game since the opening day of the 2013-14 season; winning 10 and drawing five of their 15 games at the Emirates Stadium since.
  
• The Gunners have kept a clean sheet in eight of their last 12 Premier League home games, but they have conceded in each of their last three games there.
  
• Arsenal have had Over 2.5 goals in their last four matches against West Ham
  
• West Ham's last three Premier League games have ended with a 2-1 scoreline (two wins, one defeat).
  

Final Words

Basically another Final.

The fatigue we've accumulated from the semi-final may well be mitigated by the fact that West Ham are probably going to be hoofing it at every opportunity, so we shouldn't be doing much chasing and should be able to dominate possession.

It'll be tough on the legs, but the best way to nullify them is to pen them into their half, as it would push Carroll away from our goal and render any long ball to him ineffective, and it's not like they're particularly threatening on the counter. Against any Allerdyce team, you need to minimise their set-piece opportunities, too.

We know they'll be a tough side to break down, and that's probably the biggest worry at this point. We've struggled against deep sides all season and with the way we're playing now, it's hard to see us creating that many chances, if any. The tiredness hardly lends itself to a high tempo game, either. The more lethargic we are, the slower the pace of the game will be and that will suit West Ham a lot more than it will us.

So yeah, we need some fresh legs in the side.

Needless to say that it's a must win game. Failure to win gives Everton the opportunity on Wednesday, where they're home to Palace, to open up a four or five point over us, which would give them the ability to not win one of their tougher games and still be above us regardless of if we win or not. The last thing we want to be doing is giving them any sort of breathing space.

Great preview RG
Thank god our striker Ramsey is back, now we can at least count on him to score a goal or maybe Giroud is due for his 2 goals?  

Huge game, a must win game and no excuses. I just hope we dont waste 70m with Giroud, the team is fatigued and cant snatches the fire from his hardworking midfield.

----------Szczesny
Jenkinson – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs
------------Ramsey– Kallstrom
Oxlade–--- Rosicky---- ----------Podolski
--------------Giroud

fatigue will play a big part and West Ham with Andy Giroud will be physically strong so we need our big guys on the field, but not sure about playing Merte?

Every game is now a cup final for Arsenal, I have looked at Everton schedule and both Manchester games are at home and they can easily win them both. We really cant afford to drop any points from now.

I don't think Everton can "easily" beat both Manchesters considering they lost to City and United are in much better form than when they lost 1-0 to them. Also, they play Soton away.

Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen; Rosicky, Arteta; Kallstrom, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud

Need to give Arteta some rest if we're winning in the second half but it's Wenger we're talking about, he'll play all 90 minutes

Gibbs not in the squad at all for some reason; probably one of those one week injuries that end up being a 9 month injury.

A left hand side of Vermaelen and Podolski is barely a step-up from Santos and Podolski.

Bench: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Bellerin, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Akpom, Sanogo

urbaNRoots wrote:Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen; Rosicky, Arteta; Kallstrom, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud

Need to give Arteta some rest if we're winning in the second half but it's Wenger we're talking about, he'll play all 90 minutes

 
That line up?

Lets GO
COYG

......................Szczesny .....................
.....Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen....
.................Arteta....... Kallstrom...........
Sagna.......Cazorla.....Rosicky....Podolski..
........................Giroud.........................

good for a change

Wenger on SKY: "Ramsey & Chamberlain are not medically available. Gibbs is out. I don't have much choice tonight."

RealGunner wrote:Wenger on SKY: "Ramsey & Chamberlain are not medically available. Gibbs is out. I don't have much choice tonight."

Hope Ramsey is ok, he just came back.  

Kallstrom's passing is amazing

Vermaelen has been really good

Who is this West Ham fanboy commentator on Bein sports?

going to have to dig in to win this one

Kim's pass   

Is this the oldest squad Wenger has put out in years? Ever?

Also, is Giroud getting even slower? (I think he's done some good things on the pitch so far, too.)

Haven't seen the team this devoid of creativity and intelligence all season. It's like some office men having a kick about in the parking lot during their lunch break

GIROUD SO CLOSE FFS

Giroud, just when I kinda stood up for you.

WTF.

Good pass, good positioning though.

And people ask why Giroud gets so much stick

What a pass from Cazorla. Giroud did what he could with limited time