West Ham United (1) 3 Arsenal (0) 1
Carabao Cup (EFL Cup) Fourth Round
London Stadium, London E20 2ST
Wednesday, 1st November 2023. Kick-off time: 7.30pm
(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Jakob Kiwior, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Fábio Vieira, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho (c), Kai Havertz; Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard.
Substitutes: William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Cédric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Declan Rice.
Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (90+5 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 71%
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistant Referees: Darren Cann, Sam Lewis
Fourth Official: Sam Barrott
Attendance: c.62,000
Gabriel Jesus will not feature in tonight’s match at the London Stadium because of a hamstring injury, and midfielder Thomas Partey is also absent with a muscle injury. Our captain Martin Ødegaard is again likely to be rested as he recovers from a hip problem, but he is fit enough to command a place on the substitute’s bench, and Jorginho will be wearing the captain’s armband tonight in his absence. Of course, there is no VAR available for the Carabao Cup until the semi-finals of the competition.
As is the case with many a cup match, it was a nervous start from both teams tonight. We certainly had the best of the early exchanges, although the home side had an early chance to open the scoring when Lucas Paqueta put a through ball into the path of Jarrod Bowen, but fortunately it overshot straight into the arms of Aaron Ramsdale. We won a free-kick over on the left wing when Kai Havertz was brought down, and the subsequent free-kick which was taken by Reiss Nelson was headed towards the West Ham goal, only for Lukasz Fabianski to tip it over the crossbar for a corner, which sadly went nowhere. After just fifteen minutes, the home side took the lead when a Jarrod Bowen corner was met awkwardly by Ben White, who accidentally headed it into his own net; but on the other hand, camera replays have clearly shown that Tomas Soucek had a hold of Aaron Ramsdale’s shirt before the goal, which would have been disallowed had VAR been in operation tonight. The goal woke us up somewhat and we snapped back at West Ham with several good chances from our strikers. Although we were under pressure at times, we remained calm and resolute with crisp passing and good movement both on and off the ball. A Ben White header from a Reiss Nelson free-kick was tipped over the bar by Lukasz Fabianski for a corner which, although was good, was easily cleared by the West Ham defence. After former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos won a corner after running with the ball into our penalty area, Jarrod Bowen’s corner was cleared easily, but there appeared to be an argument between Aaron Ramsdale and Tomas Soucek which was quickly neutralised by the referee. After a Reiss Nelson shot which was blocked from twenty yards, Kai Havertz headed wide from the resulting corner which was disappointing. Eddie Nketiah blasted a ball over the crossbar from close range, and as half-time beckoned, our attacks intensified, but we were unable to find a way through the West Ham defence, so as referee Simon Hooper blew the whistle for the hiatus, we were left wondering how we could turn this around in the next forty-five minutes.
We kicked off the second half of this Carabao Cup fourth round tie, with the expectation that we can get something out of this match here at the London Stadium tonight. However, we were almost two goals down when Jarrod Bowen ran through on our goal, but Aaron Ramsdale managed to get a hand to it, and fortunately Ben White was on hand to clear the danger. A couple of minutes later, a long ball caught out our defenders, but found Mohammed Kudus who placed the ball past Aaron Ramsdale to score the home side’s second goal. West Ham are on the ascendancy now, looking and hunting for a third goal and in doing so, putting our defenders under pressure. From our point of view, the match was starting to go flat, and so eleven minutes after the restart, Declan Rice and Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Jorginho and Oleksandr Zinchenko in order to try to make a difference and salvage something from this match. Just before the hour, we were three goals down when Jarrod Bowen struck a ball that bounced off Jakob Kiwior’s thigh and ricocheted off Aaron Ramsdale’s right arm and into the net. Obviously, the home side’s tails were up now, and it is going to have to be something special for us to get any kind of result here tonight. Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka replaced Leandro Trossard and Reiss Nelson after sixty-six minutes to bring something different to the forwrd line for the remainder of the game. The introduction of the new players meant that it had given us scope to move forward and score, but the home side proved difficult to break down, despite some very good passing moves from our chaps. Eddie Nketiah was replaced by Martin Ødegaard with eleven minutes of the match remaining, and although we were finding our players well, there was no end product. It was truly not happening for us tonight. Martin Ødegaard hit a decent shot from distance, but Lukasz Fabianski easily picked it up. During the five minutes injury time period, we continued to press the home side, and right on the end of the game, Martin Ødegaard hit a low shot past Lukasz Fabianski and into the back of the net, to at least save our blushes a little bit; but too little too late. The referee blew the final whistle a minute or so later, and were were unceremoniously ejected from the Carabao Cup.
An awful evening overall for us, despite seventy-one per cent possession and very little or no end product to mention. At times we looked flat, uninspired and lost, and yet at early points in the match we looked as if we could get a result at the London Stadium, but as the match wore on, we slipped further and further behind, and as the goals went in, we found it nore and more difficult to raise our game and despite bringing on some top substitutes, the match looked further away from us than ever. We just have to pick ourselves up and get a result at the Emirates aginst Newcastle United late on Saturday afternoon, otherwise there will be some serious questions asked. Just one of those nights. Most disappointing
Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Newcastle United at the Emirates on Saturday, 4th November at 5.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.
Steve
Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 