Arsenal vs. West Ham

5-1, Premier League, Emirates Stadium, 2013-01-23
Podolski 22,
Giroud 47, 57,
Cazorla 52,
Walcott 54

There is currently a rather peculiar trend taking place with this team... For some reason we play a (more or less) poor first half only to return (more or less) looking like a team changed for the second half. It was noticeable against Manchester City and Chelsea, but in this game it just blew all of our minds!

That is not to say that we were rubbish in the first half (at least in this game), five minutes into the first half Walcott made a great run, but could not find a team-mate with his cross, which was pretty much the story of our first half: plenty of decent play but the final, decisive, pass constantly failed or was intercepted. Ten minutes later Walcott made yet another brilliant run, spotted by Wilshere, unfortunately Walcott's shot went wide. Then disaster struck as West Ham scored from a shot right after a corner, we were not fast enough at closing the player down.
   However, our response to this was not long in its coming! Lukas Podolski, back from illness, scored with a stunning shot, containing plenty of both power and precision, from quite a distance! From then on we continued to rack up chances to score, Vermaelen made an amazing pass to Walcott, whose dangerous cross was cleared by a defender. Podolski had another shot at goal that went past the keeper, but a defender managed to clear the ball before it reached the back of the net. Ramsey did likewise for us five minutes later, that is, sliding in behind Szczesny to clear the ball away from the goal. In the very last minute of the half Cazorla was awarded a free-kick at the edge of the box and he took it himself, putting it in the top corner, forcing a great save from the keeper.

In the second half we were, quite simply, of a completely different class! Our performance (during the first half of the second half in particular) was out of this world, and it began right at the start of the half with Walcott's cross almost being turned into an own goal by a defender, however, it went just wide instead. Our leading goal came just a minute later, two minutes into the half, when Olivier Giroud fired a thundering shot that bounced off the keeper's shoulder to hit the back of the net! What made this goal extra spectacular was that we actually scored it from a corner! Walcott took the corner-kick where a clever tactic meant that Giroud could find space by the near-post, Mertesacker originally stood by the post, but as the corner was taken he ran back, switching place with the Frenchman.
   About ten minutes into the second half Walcott made yet another amazing run, and the manner in which he brought the ball down was just delightful to watch, but the shot did not hit the target this time. In the very same minute, though, it did, only it was Santi Cazorla who scored! Podolski showed great generosity as he passed the ball to the Spaniard, right in front of the goal, for Cazorla to skilfully back-heel the ball into the goal! Two minutes after this goal Theo Walcott got his for the evening! Needless to say, it was from a brilliant run by the Englishman, which was spotted by Podolski and a stunning assist was provided by the German, all Walcott had to do really was to fire it home! Then, three minutes later, Olivier Giroud finished the scoring with his second goal of the evening. Wilshere picked out Podolski with a marvellous pass, and the cross from Podolski did not disappoint as it was met perfectly by Giroud, yet another amazing goal!
   We kept up the good work throughout the rest of the game with plenty of chances, but after a severe injury to a West Ham player the game slowed down considerably. Walcott had a golden opportunity to score at the very end of the game as he got a quite unexpected chance. Wilshere pressured the keeper, causing him to play the ball straight at Walcott! Unfortunately the chip that Walcott attempted was not quite high enough and the keeper managed to get his hands to it.

What a game. We looked formidable in that second half, scoring four goals within ten minutes! To name just one, Podolski had an outstanding game, with one goal and three assists! Hopefully we will continue to play in this manner, only bring it into the first half as well, so we won't have to come from behind in all games from now on!

Injury Update:
- Both Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain recovered from illness to feature in this game, the former made his way straight into the starting XI whereas the latter started on the bench.