West Ham 1-0 Arsenal- Emery’s men fall to yet another away defeat
January 17, 2019
Arsenal continue their dreadful recent away from under Unai Emery as they slumped to defeat against West Ham at the London Stadium over the weekend. Teenager Declan Rice’s 48th minute winner separated the two sides at the final whistle, and it was another toothless performance from the Gunners on the road, with the Hammers emerging pretty comfortable winners.
Let’s take a look at Arsenal’s last five away league games. Are these the results you’d expect out of a Champions League chasing side? Your guess is as good as ours!
West Ham 1-0 Arsenal
Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal
Brighton 1-1 Arsenal
Southampton 3-2 Arsenal
Manchester United 2-2 Arsenal
That’s TWO points from a possible fifteen on the road. And that United draw came against a Jose Mourinho team, not an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer one. Given the Red Devils’ current form under the Norwegian, you’d probably back them to beat the Gunners at Old Trafford if that fixture was played today.
The West Ham faithful-a club record of 59,946 were present for the clash, would’ve been absolutely delighted with what they saw at the London Stadium. They’ve been inconsistent in recent weeks, but easily seemed to get the better of the Gunners, who looked bereft and lost of ideas.
Emery’s tactics also seem to be bizarre- Arsenal looked much better when Aaron Ramsey and Lucas Torreira came on at the London Stadium. Torreira has probably been the Gunners’ best player this season but neither he, nor the talented Ramsey, who appears to be going to Juventus on a free next summer, started as Emery again chose to start with a 3-4-3. His side looked far better in the second when they switched to four at the back.
Mesut Ozil is Arsenal’s highest paid player, but the German star, reportedly earning £350,000 a week, was not even in the match day squad for this one. Although club officials do not seem to want to admit to it, there appears to be definite friction between Emery and his star playmaker.
Ex- Arsenal players, such as Jeremy Aliadiere, have blasted Emery for his tactics. Arsenal have the third WORST away defence in the league (yes, you read that right- third worst for a team that’s fifth in the league table). United are now level on points with them after their resurgence under Solsksjaer, and it looks like Emery’s men will again have to settle for a Europa spot. That would be a poor way to end the season after the fanfare in which it began- nothing too different to what they achieved under Arsene Wenger in the last few seasons.
This article is brought to us by our newest member of the Sports Writers Club – Brian Collins.
