"Rio for England"

After going 2-0 ahead within the first 20 minutes we were thinking that West Ham were going to be the first side to be on the receiving end of a long awaited Arsenal rout. After all we have been creating chance after chance in all our games but (apart form Henry) have not put enough away. The Hammers with just 8 points from 9 games (winning 1, losing 3 and drawing 5) and lying in the relegation zone seemed contenders for that drubbing.

However on closer scrutiny of their results perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised that they clawed themselves back into this game. Up to that point they had conceded one less goal than Liverpool, who lie in third place at the moment. We can therefore deduce that West Ham's problems have not been so much defensive but creating and converting goal-scoring chances. With Henry rested, Wiltord started well enough and could have had two or three goals early on if it wasn't for the determination of Hislop to keep us out. However our first goal came from a terrible Trevor "no ambition" Sinclair back pass which, the ever threatening and impressive, Robert Pires leapt on to score his second goal this week - a looping shot over the stranded Hislop, reminiscent of Wednesday's strike against Lazio. In the first half Pires et al were cutting through the Hammers' defence almost at will and it was fortunate for them that Hislop was on such good form.

Our second goal Hislop could do nothing about. Silvinho whipped in a dangerous cross from the left, which would have fell perfectly to Bergkamp, if Ferdinand hadn't got to it first. And he got to it with aplomb, redirecting it into his own net. "Rio for England" we chanted which is ironic since the man keeping him out of the National side was having a commanding performance at the other end of the pitch. There's nothing like a London Derby to spur an otherwise lacklustre attack into action. With players like Cole, Sinclair, Di Canio, Kanoute and Suker all on the pitch you would think they would have scored a few more this season. But it took Stuart Pearce to eventually get West Ham going and prevent what should have been a drubbing at this stage of the game. Pires handled the ball on 55 minutes outside the area on the left. From his preferred position Pearce struck a fierce "grass-cutter" which Seaman would probably have saved if he wasn't so unsighted by Arsenal players and Di Canio's step-over in the area. After that West Ham made a fight of it.

The Hammers appeared fresher at times (remember they hadn't played the Italian league champions three days earlier) and Joe Cole in Midfield, showed some great touches as he drifted through Arsenal players, on occasion easily. However Cole, or anybody else for that matter, is no match for Patrick Viera - even when he is tired - who still managed to produce a master-class in midfield. West Ham enjoyed much more possession in the 2nd half and Seaman had to make a couple of good stops. But in reality we never really looked like losing the lead because the Hammers failed to convert possession into attacking opportunities. Cole, Ferdinand and Lampard flattered to deceive because they failed to do the important and simple things well - they could do worse than take a leaf out of Winterburn's book on this. They will not fulfil their potential for England with great flicks, turns and dribbles if they cannot deliver the "killer" pass. Viera on the other hand split the Hammers defence on several occasions with as little as 3-4 touches of the ball.

Keown, who rallied Arsenal as best he could, showed just how important a win was to us when he prematurely celebrated our third goal in front of the West Ham crowd, but Bergkamp was judged offside - perhaps unfairly. In the latter part of the game Keown seemed to lose his composure and could have been sent off along with whichever West Ham player he was arguing with at the time - which seemed to be all of them! Redknapp prior to this game lamented: "They (Arsenal) have unlimited resources, as do Manchester United, Chelsea, Leeds, and Liverpool.. Look at the players on their bench the other night - Keown, Kanu, Wiltord, Luzhny... they have so much strength in depth". Cliché, cliché, cliché Harry, we've given you two world class players in Davor and Nutty - who were also his most direct players I might add! Di Canio usually the Hammers most dangerous player preferred to run the referee ragged rather than the Gunners as he complained about every decision and tackle. Perhaps he also needs to spend more time training - on how to keep his mouth shut! And the rest of the team need to work on their passing in the final third of the pitch - that's got nothing to do with resources!

Referee Dermot Gallagher
West Ham: Hislop, Psycho, Rio for England, Lomas, Winterburn, Lampard, Sinclair, Cole, Moncur (Suker 74), Di Twatio, Kanoute.
Arsenal: My little pony, Luzhny, Monkey's Head, Silvinho, Grimster, Vieira, Ljungberg (Parlour 65), Lauren, Pires, Wiltord (Henry 75), Bergkamp (Kanu 85).