West Ham 0-3 Arsenal : Arsenal stroll through Upton Park

Arsenal bagged the three points yesterday in typical fashion. This win makes it the seventh away win for the Gunners this season. Their opponents West Ham, despite the mid-week win over Birmingham City, slumped to another loss - their eleventh of the campaign.

Mr. Wenger made 4 changes to the team that contrived the loss at Ipswich during the week. Nasri in for Arshavin, Van Persie for Bendtner, Song for Denilson and Clichy for Gibbs. On the other hand, West Ham were missing 3 of their regular starters - Piquionne (dental surgery), Obinna (suspension) and S. Parker (ankle).

Arsenal started the game well, the team created a lot of chances. (Maybe trying to make amends for the Carling Cup first-leg loss at Ipswich?) The introduction of Nasri and Van Persie definitely added creative depth to the side, while Song's addition gave the side a more rigid look. 

In the first half, Arsenal were at their flowing and creative best. At the start, Van Persie crossed it in to Fabregas at the far post but West Ham full-back Faubert cleared the ball before Fabregas could get purchase on it. For the first goal, Wilshere found Walcott on the right wing and the winger put a low cross into the box. Nasri dummied over the cross and Van Persie coolly tucked it into the net, despite the outstretched leg of his marker.

Arsenal continued to press, creating chance after chance. Walcott had a run at goal, after Fabregas found him from the Arsenal half, but Hammers' defender Tomkins got his leg on the ball before Walcott could settle. The resulting shot was saved by keeper R. Green.

West Ham on the other hand, had a tepid showing. Most of the chances created were gifted to them by the Arsenal defense. The first coming in the 10th minute. After Arsenal lost the ball in the opposing third, West Ham proceeded to attack the hole left by the forward run of Eboue. Thankfully, Hines' cross into the box was cleared by Clichy. On another occasion, Djourou's weak back pass to Szczesny was short, but the keeper blocked the initial shot from C. Cole while the rebound by Hines was shot into the stands. The best clear-cut chance for the Hammers came late in the half, when Sears crossed the ball into the box. C. Cole's diving header glanced off Djourou, before clearing the Arsenal goal and resulting in a corner.   

Apart from the chances gifted to West Ham and the wide header by C. Cole, the rest of the half was all Arsenal. Nasri and Wilshere combined at the top of the West Ham box, but the teenager lost control of the ball after wiggling through the West Ham defenders. Song's endeavor almost paid off when he drove into the heart of the West Ham defense, but his shot - from a Van Persie pass - was deflected to the keeper by defender Tomkins. Van Persie's shot hit the upright 30 minutes into the game, after being slipped through by Nasri. Eventually, all the pressure would pay off 5 minutes before the break. Arsenal went two up when Clichy gave an exquisite lobbed through-ball to Van Persie, after receiving a sliding tackle pass from Fabregas. Van Persie proceeded to drive towards goal and provide a nice cut-back for Walcott to pounce upon, after rounding W. Bridge (who had a torrid debut). Arsenal finished the half strong, with Djourou having his shot - after drifting upfield - saved by R. Green's face.

The second half was more of the same - continued Arsenal dominance. Straight from the kick-off, Fabregas shot past Green and the post. A minute later, Hammers' winger did have a (tame) shot at goal, but Szczesny collected easily. At this point, the Arsenal forwards were shooting on sight. Walcott, Van Persie and Nasri all had shots either on goal, deflected or off-target. The two points of note for West ham were the free kick by W. Bridge - which deflected off Van Persie - and the Sears cross, which nearly fooled Szczesny, that forced a save from the Polish keeper. In the end though, Arsenal did find the net in the second half. On the counter, Eboue fed Fabregas from the right-back position, and Fabregas passed the ball to Walcott on the right wing. Walcott drove into the box, drawing a sliding tackle from W. Bridge. However, W. Bridge got none of the ball, because Walcott nudged the ball away. Van Persie stepped up to take the penalty, and dispatched his third league goal of the season confidently - even with the keeper guessing the right way. The Gunners kept the pressure up till the very end, with Wilshere having a shot saved by Green off a quick corner.

Yesterday Arsenal were great. They passed well and created ample chances, which essentially put West Ham to the sword. The only blip that reduces the game to a "great" Arsenal performance - instead of a fantastic one - is the fact that when lesser teams play with a "have-your-way-with-us" attitude, Arsenal tend to switch off defensively. It is imperative that Arsenal eradicate the frailty at the back, because better teams like Barca (as they did at Camp Nou last year), Man U (as they did at the Emirates in 2009), Man City (when not playing defensively), Chelsea (when they're not going through a mid-life crisis), will not let such kamikaze-style defending go unpunished.