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MATCH REPORT: West Ham 3 – 1 Arsenal

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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

Arsenal and Declan the clear winners in Rice deal as West Ham the only party not to improve

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I remember when the transfer finally went through, West Ham fans responded with utter bitterness.

“Not worth that”
“We have had their pants down”
“£20m too much, thanks for the help Pep”

A little more than 3 months on and I think it is quite clear that Arsenal got themselves a brilliant player, for a good price, and it was a great move for Declan Rice.

With Rice in the team, Arsenal have improved dramatically.

Rice has also improved in his time at Arsenal. You will find very few now debating against him being World Class. West Ham, meanwhile, have gone backwards.

Arsenal improvement

A lot has been made this season about how Manchester City had a drop off when Rodri was out suspended. Arsenal were the same in previous seasons when Thomas Partey was out.

Partey has started just two Premier League games this season and Arsenal have not missed him. The reason is Declan Rice.

The Ghanian was one of the best midfielders in the Premier League last season. Declan Rice is the best midfielder in the Premier League this season.

Partey’s issue has always been his fitness, his ability to play 40+ games a season. Rice is more durable and has more to his game.

When we beat Manchester City in the league, Rice played a dominant role in central midfield. He has quickly become a moder-day Ruud Gullit.

In defence, Rice and Partey are not too disimilar, but it is when our backs are against the wall Rice rises to another level.

Probably due to his conditioning from a young age playing for someone like West Ham, Rice finds another gear when the team are looking to defend a lead and need someone to drive the ball forward. He reminds me of Roy Keane the way he takes responsibility of a game.

Rice can dominate and dictate a game in its closing 30-minutes that PArtey was unable to do so.

His positioning is excellent and he knows when to clear upfield, when to play a short pass and when to drive into space. Partey did not always have their clarity in the closing minutes.

Sevilla was the perfect example of this as we held on to a 2-1 win. I am not sure we do that with Partey.

This is not to say Thomas Partey is a poor footballer, just the Rice is now a level above. And much of this is due to the Englishman’s self-improvement since joining The Arsenal.

Rice improvement

I do not know why it is so controversial to have the opinion that Declan Rice has improved since joining Arsenal.

Yes, it has only been 2 and a half months, but that highlights just how quickly Rice has picked up the way we play and his hunger to learn.

Rice was very good at West Ham. One of the best midfielders in the league. But now? I would argue he is the best in the league. And Ithink only bitter Hammers would disagree (despite last year them claiming he was the best!).

Playing with better players has taken Rice to the next level. He no longer needs to be Superman on the pitch. He is surrounded by World Class talents such as Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, comapred to average journeymen like Jarrad Bowen and Lucas Paqueta.

Rice looks calmer at Arsenal than at West Ham due to his understanding that he does not need to be bother the defensive and attacking match winner. He is learning that he does not need to drive forward with the ball everytime he gets it. He looks calmer and due to that his decision making is much improved.

The only area where Rice has not improved this season is in “ball recoveries” – basically tackles and interceptions. But this is due to him playing for a vastly different team that does not require him putting in 10-15 challeges a game.

Rice is losing posession less, passing more, and completing more passes. He has become so consistent. So reliable.

West Ham go backwrds

Against Everton on Sunday, West Ham were bullied in midfield.

The Hammers started the season well, and the recruitment of James Ward-Prowse and Edson Álvarez looked good business.

Alongside Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta, the quartet looked to be a solid midfield and some made the argument that West Ham’s midfield was stronger than last year. But it is a mid-table midfield and so it is no surprise that they are now mid-table.

Rice took their midfield to another level, capable of World Class performances. A one man midfield. Without him, West Ham’s midfield now looks fairly average.

West Ham fans tried to pull the wool over everyones eyes by saying stuff like “Rice was holding back Tomas Soucek. The Czech midfielder was always better and is now back to his best”. Three defeats in the row have led those same fans to now demand he is dropped. Rice was undroppable.

With just one win in their last 6 games, I think it is clear and obvious that West Ham are missing Declan Rice.

Tonight, I expect Declan Rice to not play. Only Ben White and William Saliba have played more minutes than him for The Arsenal this season.

Saturday’s game against Newcastle is vastly more important than the League Cup v West Ham. Rice will be given a rest ahead of the bigger game.

The likes of the League Cup or European Conference League are designed for those smaller clubs to dream of a little bit of minor success. They are good additions to the calendar. But for bigger sides they can be an inconvenience.

Arteta will shuffle his pack tonight, Rice will be left out, and the main target of this week is to awake Sunday morning top of the league.

UTA.

Keenos

Beware of Riyadh Season

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Long term readers of the blog will know I have often spoken out against sporting events being “sold” to backwards countries in their attempt to divert the attention from those nations horrendous human rights track records.

We have seen F1, athletics, football, boxing and more go to these places, with all those athletes involved suddenly forgetting about what they have said about slavery, taking the knee, rainabow laces, etc. Sports washing.

On Saturday, we had the farce that was the Battle of Baddest take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

We had Tyson Fury talking about how welcoming the murderous Saudi regime were to him, in comparison to the UK Government. The self proclaimed Gypsy King trying to criticise our authorities for not providing him with “special treatment” when going through airports.

The so-called “man of the people” celebrating he is invited for a cup of tea with heads of Government in Saudi Arabia whilst complaining that he has not even had a thank you letter from anyone in the UK Goverment. He has rightly been slammed by many.

The fight was just farcical.

Bought by the Saudi’s as part of their Riyadh season, they then splashed out millions to ensure that former champions and celebraties were ring side for their event.

I never want to hear any of those who took Saudi money to turn up ever talk about human rights, racism, homophobia or anything again. They have all shown their morals can be bought. Just like Jordan Henderson.

The fight was launching the Saudi’s Riyadh Season. A 6 month “state-sponsored annual entertainment and sports festival”. Basically, the worlds biggest sportswashing initiative.

Interested in what Riyadh Season involved beyong boxing, I checked out its Wikipedia page.

The usual suspects were there – boxing, UFC, wrestling, tennis. But there was also football…

The Turkish Super Cup (their version of the Community Shield) is set to be held in Saudi Arabia.

The match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce will be the 2nd time in 3 years that the Turksih FA have taken the Arab oil money and hosted the game abroad.

Back in 2021, the Turkish Super Cup was sold to Qatar. Just 3,500 turned up for it. In comparison, a year later nearly 47,000 were at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. The Turkish FA are literally taking a game away from the fans for (probably) plenty of brown envelopes.

And it is not just Turkey who have sold games to Saudi Arabia for Riyadh Season.

La Liga are also in on the act, selling the 2023–24 Supercopa de Espana to the Saudis. This will be the 4th time in 5 years that the Supercopa has taken place in Riyadh

Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid and Barcelona v Osasuna will both take place in Riyadh in January. The winners will then face eachother in the final on 14 January.

La Liga had actually expanded the tournament from the traditional 2-team League Champions v Domestic Cup Winners to a 4-team tournament to enable them to sell it abroad.

Italy have also followed suit, with the expanded 2023 Supercoppa Italiana set to be part of Riyadh Season.

A week after the Supercopa de Espana finishes, Napoli will face Fiorentina and Inter Milan will play against Lazio. The final will take place on 25 January.

Manchester City are also set to play a Saudi All Stars XI in the Riyadh Season Cup. This will probably take place during the mid-season winter “break”.

I look forward to hearing Pep Guardiola complain again about how many games his players have to play, whilst the club arranged meaningless friendlies in what should be a rest period.

How long will it be until the FA get in on the act. Follow Spain and Italy and expand the Community Shield to a 4-team tournament and take it from Wembley to whichever Arab nations pays them the most.

If they do it, it will show all the Black Lives Matters posters, the taking the knee, the rainbow laces, etc are just virtue signalling. That the FA do not really care about any of these things and their morals can be bought.

Likewise, it will show that all the guff around the European Super League was just because they feared losing “their game”, and was not in protection of match-going fans.

Some of you reading the blog and thinking of commenting “Arsenal are a global club. We deserve games in our country”. Save you energy. I do not care for your opinion.

Arsenal existed before being a global brand, and will still exist after. Football thrives in places like Norway, Denmark, Poland and others where there is a not a huge export of TV rights. Local fans supporting local teams. That is where the passion is.

I have a fear that it will not be the European Super League that breaks up football, but a Liv Golf style “Saudi League”, which would see top European clubs leave their domestic leagues and join an international Super League funded by the Saudis.

An NFL style franchise league where teams play some games in England, Spain or Italy, and then others in Saudi Arabia and beyond.

If Arsenal ever joined something like, football will be dead for me. I also think the authorities would be overestimating how much interest there is in football in these countries and how quickly having Madrid, Barcelona or Munich in town every other week will wear off.

Turkey, Italy and Spain have already taken games away from their local fans to fill the pockets of officials. England might not be far from joining them…

Keenos