Five Premier League games down today, one to go.
And, boy. it promises to be a doozy as Arsene Wenger reacquaints himself with his bête noire, Big Sam.
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West Ham 1-3 Arsenal
Good evening, all! All but one of the six Premier League games scheduled for today have been played and now we turn our attentions to Upton Park, where Arsenal make the short visit to West Ham.
The early team news is that Andy Carroll is back in the Hammers’ starting line-up for the first time since picking up a hamstring injury on his debut in September. The striker, on loan from Liverpool, comes in for Carlton Cole.
For the Gunners, Per Mertesacker gets the nod.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce: ”He (Carroll) is biting at the bit. The way he performed against Fulham when he made his debut is why we chose him. If we can get him the right service we could cause them problems here. It’s a little harsh on Carlton Cole.
Arsenal are terrific at keeping of the ball so we’ll have to do that side of the game first. It’s our biggest game of the season and we’re in very good form today so hopefully we show what we can do.”
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, McCartney, Noble, Diame, Vaz Te, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll. Subs: Henderson, Tomkins, Cole, Maiga, Taylor, Benayoun, O’Neil.
Arsenal: Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Cazorla, Arteta, Gervinho, Giroud, Podolski. Subs: Martinez, Koscielny, Andre Santos, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Arshavin.
Teams emerge from the tunnel, ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ ringing around… we’re just about ready to go here. It’s the first sell-out of the season for those who care.
Arsenal, wearing their third choice yellow kit, kick off. West Hammer wearing their usual claret and blue.
Olivier Giroud, still seeking his first Premier League goal since joining from Montpellier in the summer, has the first shot on target, which Jussi Jaaskelainen tips around the post.
He may not have any goals to his name, but he’s got plenty of admirers it seems…
A well-worked move sees Arsenal break at pace. The ball is played wide left and gets cut back to Santi Cazorla, whose accurate effort is deflected behind.
The former Villarreal midfielder has been outstanding so far in his short Gunners career.
The Hammers are under heavy pressure early on but do have an outlet in Carroll. Ricardo Vaz Te lumps it long and the 23-year-old blocks Mertesacker’s clearance (possibly with his arm) and lays off to his Portuguese team-mate.
I can see that being a common theme to West Ham’s play this evening.
A series of Cazorla corners result in a second chance for Giroud after a scramble in the box. The Frenchman picks his spot but three defenders guard the line and Carroll heads clear.
GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Arsenal (Mohamed Diame)
Incredible. Their first real chance sees the home side take a 1-0 lead. Receiving a pass from George McCartney, the midfielder skips past Aaron Ramsey and produces a finish past Vito Mannone that Thierry Henry would be proud of. That’s his first goal for the club since signing from Wigan.
Since their dominance during the opening 20 minutes, Arsenal have clearly been rattled somewhat and are struggling to create now.
Mark Noble whips in a corner and Carroll gets above two defenders to head into the hands of Mannone. Seconds later, the ball is launced in once again and the forward crashes into the Italian goalkeeper.
Phil Dowd flashes a yellow card at Winston Reid after the Kiwi defender collides with Cazorla. Extremely harsh and wonder whether it was to compensate not booking Diame, who already has a caution thanks to his goal celebrtaion, for his rash tackle on Mikel Arteta.
GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Arsenal (Olivier Giroud)
He’s done it! It may have taken him seven games, but the man bought to replace Robin van Persie has scored his first Premier League goal for Arsenal. Podolski’s cross from the left is an inviting one and the 26-year-old makes contact with an outstretched leg to beat Jaaskelainen.
Yellow card for Gervinho, who is late but doesn’t actually make contact with Noble. From the resulting free-kick, Carroll wins the knock-down but Kevin Nolan can’t direct his shot on goal and it goes agonisingly wide.
Watch Giroud’s equaliser. Gunners fans will hope it’s the first of many:
YouTube credit: Alban Maestro
Good chance for West Ham to put Mannone under pressure. He gets a good palm to it but it matters little as Dowd awards a free-kick against Arsenal.
Lengthy spell of Arsenal possession around 35 yards out from the opposing goal. They eventually lose the ball and West Ham break.
Matt Jarvis sends a ball across but it’s cleared away. He could be key to Carroll getting on the scoresheet, you feel.
Carroll flicks on a long throw-in and it drops to Jarvis. He blazes over, however.
Wenger has taken off Gibbs for Brazilian full-back Andre Santos.
Mannone takes a trailing leg of Vaz Te to the head and the play is stop while he receives treatment.
Strangely, the West Ham striker has done himself more damage in the collision and it looks as though he will be replaced by Matt Taylor.
Theo Walcott is also on for Gervinho, who’s been pretty awful.
Couple of decent chances to report. Giroud and Cazorla come close for Arsenal, as does Carroll down the other end.
Big moment. Nolan breaks free but opts to cut inside Mertesacker and allows him to make a last-ditch challenge.
Suspected dislocated shoulder for Vaz Tez, accoring to ESPN. And the latest walking wounded Guy Demel is about to come off for James Tomkins.
GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Arsenal (Theo Walcott)
A couple of minutes after West Ham are denied a possible penalty, Walcott takes a pass from Giroud and strokes it around the West Ham keeper for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Kevin Nolan is unlikely to get a chance as good as that inthe remaining 11 minutes. The former Bolton midfielder skies over with his left foot from about 15 yards out.
Mertesacker’s goalbound effort takes a nick and goes out for a corner, which West Ham deal with. Cartlon Cole is on in place of Diame for the closing minutes.
GOAL! West Ham 1-3 Arsenal (Santi Cazorla)
What a strike to wrap up the three points for Arsenal. Cazorla takes a pass from Walcott and buries it in the top corner from 20 yards.
Podolski off, Koscielny on as Wenger looks to secure the win.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: ”I’m very happy because it was a game played with a high tempo. They scored a great goal. From then on we could not concede a second one and had to get our game going and we did that in a convincing way.
On Walcott: “He has that (the goal) in him, I said that many times. One or two years ago he was not sure when he got in front of the keeper but now you are.”
On Cazorla: “Fantastic, he had an outstanding performance. If you love football just watch him play, he’s a joy to watch.”
As they happened: Premier League, 3pms
Mourinho: Ronaldo has good reason to be upset over Iniesta award
Let’s be honest, the head area of a player must be protected, we know this, we saw in the world cup what needs to be punished and so on. But if that tackle is a 4 week ban, then it’s making a farce of things. He tried to wrap, and bounced off his shoulder. He tried to hit lower, but bounced off the contact as he tried to wrap and honestly I can’t even see where he made contact with the head in the replays I saw. TMO looked and went on during the match itself. There’s needs to be some sense here and this makes a joke of things
@Andrew Taz Donohoe: correct Andrew. That’s the way I see it too. He dips, he attempts a wrap and I see a head predominantly on front upper shoulder. No intent and not reckless either. Heads clashing unfortunately are part and parcel of a contact sport.
Huge blow, 4 really important games he’s missing. Length of the ban seems a bit harsh, but that’s the way the sport is going I suppose.
@Peter McCarthy: Deliberate elbow to face 6 weeks. Legal tackle with poor head placement 4 weeks. Doesn’t seem right to me.
@SilexFlint: legal mauling with poor elbow placement?
@Jim Demps: The guy who eye gouged tom curry got 6 weeks too. Deliberate malicious acts that can do serious damage to only the recipient, versus another where the damage is accidental and can be reciprocal. Since Addison is made of glass i’m surprised he didn’t need to be carted off too!
Would probably help to have a clip of the Addison tackle for context. Link here: https://streamable.com/fpph8
Looking at World Rugby’s high-tackle framework that the decision seems to be based on, the rationale seems to be as follows: High Tackle (high contact by tackler’s…) > Shoulder or Head (degree of danger) > High > Red Card.
If it forces player’s to tackle with the correct shoulder and reduces head injuries then fair enough. However, you would like to see referees and citing commissioners being more consistent in applying the laws to make a meaningful change to how players tackle.
@EK: That link is very helpful. Onus is on the tackler and it seems that Addison got his positioning wrong and failed to complete the tackle safely. I would classify it as reckless and 4 weeks sounds about right.
@Paul Ennis: what? To me Addison came off worse… he hit his own head off the guys arm/shoulder.
Nahh this makes a mockery of the law.
Ban is fair enough to be honest, he was always going to be found guilty, might have saved himself a week if he accepted the charge. Once the citing commissioners and refs are consistent with it from here on in then there can’t be many complaints.
@Jim Demps:
Yes I agree, the rules are there for a reason and the players will have to adapt.
For me the tackle was poor technique and at great risk to Addison to suffer injury, given where he placed his own head.
Players will have to learn the hard way to lower the tackle
@Jim Demps: very harsh ban….U wouldn’t be saying the same if twas Mike Haley
@john williams: wait and see I suppose, I’d more than likely be saying exactly the same thing though.
@john williams: It is a black and white reckless tackle I’m afraid. It shouldn’t matter which province you support to see that.
I realise that there is loads of provincial bias in these comment sections, but I am pretty sure that Jim agreed with Bundee Aki’s ban during the world cup. That would not support your theory.
@Mark Smith: Don’t think the height has anything to do with it, that was fine, it was head placement that was the issue. The head injury report did mention that more concussions occur in the tackler rather than person tackled, so for me the ban is fair enough, to reduce head injuries the tackler has to not endanger themselves. However the application will raise questions, should a tackle that has poor head positioning only be punished when there is head to head contact? Or should all tackles with poor head placement be punished as it had the potentional to cause head injuries?
@Kingshu: well of course the former. As the commission said. It was a reckless tackle that made contact with the head. The tackle is only reckless when contact is made. You don’t send off players for punching air. Now if they punch a face it’s different
@PScald: so you sentence based on outcome rather than intent? That’s what’s wrong at present. Throwing a punch is throwing a punch whether it connects or not surely
@RabidHorizon: so you think every tackle attempt with poor head positioning should result in a yellow card or worse? mate, I don’t think you should be watching rugby.
Ridiculous ban,there was nothing reckless about the tackle…he went for a wrap and both heads clashed…it happens in rugby…soon ankle tapping will only be allowed!
Some of the bias on here defies belief. Head first into the players opposite players chin/cheek. Reckless, read up a little on the effects of concussion in later life folks, Rugby has to sort this, or else its gonna end up ruining the game. Tackle low will also have the positive impact on the offloading game although the next problem with the tackler concussion through contact with knees!
Looking at the tackle several times in slomo..I honestly don’t see any reckless play at all..just an attempted wrap and a clash of heads.
Very harsh decision…ridiculous
@Ronan Skelly: It is extraordinary how 2 people can look at the same clip and come to opposite points of view.
Will addison is responsible for his poor technique and head placement. This is a blight on our professional sport that I rarely see in amateur / youths rugby. Leading players like Will (and others such as Sexton, Farrell, Biggar) regularly set a bad example to kids and, incorrectly, portray a negative image to parents selecting a sport for their 6 year olds.
Bams like this are the only way to ensure long term improvement.
@Ronan Skelly: the rule has changed. Players must tackle lower or suffer the consequences. Harsh lesson for Addison but not as bad as the long term effects of repeated concussion.
Agreed no harm intended.
This was a 100% rugby incident , no malice from Addison , he wrapped his arms and his shoulder hit the opponent below shoulder level . If Addison had gone off with a head injury nothing else would have happened.
Harsh !
Positioning was a bit high but cpntact with his shoulder, length of ban is not proportionate
Hope the referee and the TMO also get punished. This was a red card offence.