Posted by Lineups
Arsenal welcomed West Ham to the Emirates for their first home game of 2020-21, a week after blowing the doors off Fulham to continue their good run of form under Mikel Arteta. In contrast, the Hammers were beaten soundly by Newcastle in their opening game of the season, showing no signs of turning the corner from the disastrous 2019-20 that almost saw them relegated.
It was Arsenal, however, who spent the first 20 minutes looking disorganized defensively and incapable of penetrating the West Ham third. Kieran Tierney’s late scratch, and subsequent addition of Sead Kolasinac to the starting 11, certainly didn’t help but it was the Arsenal midfield that were most to blame for the Gunners’ lack of sharpness.
Alexandre Lacazette’s 25th minute header gave the Gunners a brief lead, but it did nothing to change what would amount to their sloppiest performance since losing to Brighton less than a week into Project Restart. West Ham’s equalizer just before halftime was no less than they deserved, and it was the Hammers who looked most likely to grab the winner in the second half.
Instead, Arsenal did. Eddie Nketiah’s tap in, created by Bukayo Saka’s second hockey assist of the game, netted the Gunners all three points in a game they didn’t play particularly well in. Ask Liverpool how important that is to a title chase—not that Arsenal are gearing up for one of those yet…
Tactics
As expected, Arsenal alternated between the 3-4-3 (without the ball) and 4-3-3 (with it). There’s an image going around the internet today showing the change in attacking focus from Fulham to West Ham.
The main takeaway: After attacking down the right, mostly through Willian, to finish off Fulham a week ago, Arsenal all but ignored that flank in favor of the left and central attacking zones in this one. What changed? Nicolas Pépé’s 64th minute introduction, for one.
Player Focus
Bukayo Saka
Saka’s been virtually nonexistent since signing his new contract in July, but he was anything but in this one. He made four passes that were good enough to result in goals. Two of them actually did, in virtually the same way:
But he was so much better than just the two pre-assists. Here he is driving at the West Ham box within the first two minutes of the game, ignoring the easy pass to Aubameyang in favor of the more difficult one that should result in a Lacazette goal:
He’s deadly on crosses too:
This one takes out at least five West Ham defenders, and is inches away (or a better Ceballos run) from on a plate.
Saka is the more attacking left wingback compared to Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but he’s no slouch on the defensive end either:
The second GIF in particular, shows his pace to catch Jarrod Bowen and his strength to hold him off once he’s got there.
All in all, a terrific performance.
Gabriel
A week after winning Man of the Match vs. Fulham, Gabriel had a more up and down day against West Ham. Here’s a 10-second sequence that perfectly encapsulates his day:
He shows impressive pace to catch Michail Antonio and make the sliding challenge, then loses focus and allows Arthur Masuaku to skate by him like he’s not there. He had a handful of misjudged aerial balls as well, one almost resulting in a penalty, another a Rob Holding away from sending Bowen through on goal:
But what he did well, he did really well. Here’s him backing up Holding and blocking a shot destined for goal:
This one, where he’s the primary defender, is even better:
He does remarkably well to take away Ryan Fredericks’ run to his left, then recover to make the sliding block.
Offensively: No goal, but another terrific day passing. Here were two of his best:
David Luiz has nearly a returned to full fitness. When he does, Gabriel has to keep his place.
Bernd Leno
I don’t love this part. With the departure of Emi Martinez, Leno is Arsenal’s first choice GK, and by a wide margin. There was an argument that he, not Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, was Arsenal’s player of the season before his knee injury against Brighton. He’s one of ours.
But he was not good in this one. Martinez’s 10-game cameo was always going to put Leno in a difficult position when he returned, and West Ham’s crossing-based tactics don’t exactly play to his strengths, but he’s got to do better than this:
He had the one glaring misplaced pass as well:
Leno is a terrific shot stopper, and he’s more than good enough for the current Arsenal team. Is he good enough to challenge for the Premier League with? Ask again later…
Xhaka
A microcosm of his Arsenal career in this one. Is he the player who couldn’t complete a pass to a teammate in the first half…
…or the one who couldn’t miss in the second?
His limited mobility caps his potential to well and truly run the show for Arsenal, and he’d probably benefit more than Ceballos (or any of the other CMs) from a move to three central midfielders. But even playing in a two, I think he’s Arsenal’s best midfielder.
Aubameyang remains first on the team sheet. There’s an argument that Xhaka is second.
Looking Ahead – Matchday 3 vs. Liverpool
Arsenal’s dismal record against the top six in recent seasons is well known, but they’ve started to turn results in their favor of late. Wins over Chelsea and Manchester City in the FA Cup were bookended by two victories over nearly full strength Liverpool sides in the league and Community Shield.
Monday’s game will be different though, if for no other reason than Liverpool actually have something to play for. After struggling to hold Leeds off the scoreboard in game one, there were no such difficulties against Chelsea last weekend. The addition of Thiago Alcantara also presents a different challenge for the Arsenal midfield, and certainly won’t help the Gunners’ chances.
Will we see the first half Xhaka or the second half one? Can the back line avoid the critical errors that plagued them in their early season matchup with Liverpool last year?
If they’re going to do it, they’ll have to be sound defensively and take their limited chances. Here’s the team I hope to see:
Prediction: Liverpool 3 – Arsenal 1
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