West Ham Preview

By: Martin | October 24th, 2009

West Ham

Position: 19th, 1-2-5 (5 points, -3 goal differential)

Recent Form: LLLDL

Away Form: 0-1-2

Last Meeting: Arsenal 0-West Ham 0 (1/31/09)

London derby match against West Ham tomorrow. On paper, this should be a walk for Arsenal, but if you look a little more closely, there’s every reason to believe this could be a very tough match-up.

Gianfranco Zola’s men did manage to hold us to a draw in the last meeting between the two sides at the Emirates in January. And despite the fact that West Ham currently sit second from bottom in the table, they’ve actually played quite a bit better than that. They’ve only been outscored by 4 goals, and they’ve had to play 5 out of their 8 matches away from home. They’ve also been competitive in every game–other than a 3-1 loss to Manchester City at Eastlands, their other 4 losses have all been by a single goal.

I picked West Ham to finish mid-table this season, and I do still believe they’ll rebound and improve their position. And despite the London rivalry and the fact he played for Chelsea, I have to admit I kind of like Gianfranco Zola as a manager. He seems like a decent man, and probably more than any other manager in the Premiership, seems to be trying to emulate Arsene Wenger in his managerial style. He’s used his scouting network to try to bring in young players from the continent to supplement West Ham’s famous academy, and seems dedicated to playing free-flowing, attractive football, which is a stark contrast to the brand of football played by West Ham under Alan Curbishley.

Zola has brought a lot of talent into the squad, but he’s significantly constrained by the financial difficulties of West Ham’s insolvent ownership. This is especially true when it has come to bringing in strikers, as the club has struggled to find anyone to pair up top with Carlton Cole (scorer of 4 of West Ham’s 9 goals so far), which has generally forced them to play a 4-5-1, not the best formation for the kind of football Zola wants to play. With Dean Ashton out long term, they’ve been forced to turn to Zavon Hines or Alessandro Diamanti for attacking help, neither of which has really shown themselves to be top quality players.

West Ham’s midfield is led by young academy products Mark Noble and Jack Collison, former Chelsea man Scott Parker, Chilean Luis Jimenez (on loan from Inter), and Czech holding midfielder Radoslav Kovac. Their backline is very solid, and led by former Gunner Matthew Upson, the club’s current captain. Wenger spoke this week about how he would have liked to keep Upson, but felt he had to let him go because he was blocked from the first team. He’s really turned into a fine player, and does credit to Arsenal’s youth development program–it’s just too bad we couldn’t have found a way to hold onto him, because there have been a number of times (most of last season, for example) when we could have used a player exactly like him. He’s joined by Herita Ilunga, youngster James Collins, and skilled French fullback Julian Faubert across the back. The team is anchored by England international keeper Robert Green, whom I’ve long felt is underrated and should be England’s first-choice keeper ahead of David James.

More than anything, this seems to be a team in a precarious position, because it’s attempting to transition to a different model. For years West Ham seemed content to be a relatively small club which content just to stay in the Premiership, playing very defensive, physical, traditional English football. Zola’s goal is to make this into an entertaining, international squad which plays in Europe and occupies a much greater presence in English football. If he can’t turn it around this season, West Ham could end up in the Championship and he could find himself out of a job. But if he can get the club back to mid-table and there is an ownership change, this is a club we could see challenging for European qualification in years to come.

As for Arsenal, the big team news it that Eduardo is fully fit and ready to play. Bendtner is still struggling with a groin problem, and faces a late fitness test for inclusion into the team. Rosicky is still out, but is expected to be back for Tottenham on Saturday. Nasri and Fabianski are both technically fit, and could conceivably make the bench today, but aren’t really match-ready at the moment and probably won’t feature in the first team until the Carling Cup match mid-week. Djourou, Denilson, and Walcott are also still out with long-term injuries.

The big question, as I covered yesterday, is whether The Godfather or Almunia starts in goal. After Wenger’s comments, it would be surprising if Mannone didn’t get the start, although, as I said, if Almunia truly is fit again, I think he should start. The other question facing Wenger is who to start up top as the right forward, Eboue or Eduardo. My best guess at a lineup:

Mannone

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Diaby-Song-Fabregas

Eboue-van Persie-Arshavin

But as I said, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see Eduardo start on the right–in fact, I would prefer it but Wenger seems to like Eboue in the front-right role, so Eduardo will likely come off the bench as an impact sub.

To their credit, unlike most teams in their position in the table, West Ham won’t be out to park the bus in front of goal. They’ll be looking to move the ball forward and trouble Arsenal’s goal. This is good in as far as it means that we’ll have much more space to move the ball to the forward line and create scoring opportunities. But it also means we need to be careful, as West Ham is capable of nicking an early goal or two off of us and then really making life difficult. Clichy and Sagna will need to focus on keeping West Ham from getting the ball in too much space down the flanks, and be smart about picking their spots to join in the attack.

Very important match, as once again, this presents a good opportunity to make up ground on the other top teams and pull away from the mid-table squads. Aston Villa only came away from Wolves with a point this morning, Sunderland looks about to drop points at Birmingham, Tottenham are scrapping with Stoke, and of course either Manchester United or Liverpool, or both, will drop points tomorrow morning. I do think this will be a tough match, but it’s the kind of match Arsenal have to be able to win consistently if we are to be serious title contenders. Let’s get out there and take care of business.

Come on Arsenal.