Arsenal saw off a vibrant Westham United side to give Freddie Ljungberg his first win as interim coach on Monday night. He followed in the path of Unai Emery whose first win also came against this same team following losses in the first two managed matches.
An impressive second half display revived the Gunners following their one-goal deficit in the initial period. Goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put an end to the nightmare non-winning streak which could have extended to ten tonight.
To begin with, the manager picked a squad which went down well with many of the supporters. It is something we have not seen for a long time and as fate would have it, it paid off.
Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers and Kieran Tierney were named in the starting line up even though our right back was withdrawn amd replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles when he got an injury worry in warm up. David Luiz dopped to the bench.
There were no fashionable moments in the first half which ended on the side of the hosts. Having slacked when we should have cleared out the ball, we were punished with an Ogbonna header that deflected off Maitland-Niles into the net. It seemed to have bounbced off the shoulder of Ogbonna but upon examination, VAR made it stand.
What the manager told the boys at the break is unknown to us but whatever that was manifested later in the second half. It all began as Martinelli sharply shot at goal from a classy Sead Kolasinac effort in what was his first Premier League start since arriving from Ituano in the summer.
Kolasinac had earlier come on to fill in for the injured Tierney. Funny enough, he was not originally in the plans for the night due to low fitness level.
That equaliser was the catalyst as we soon followed up with another from Nicolas Pepe. That curling shot was no doubt the goal of the night. Morale was on high. It was so vivid from the way we approached the game afterwards.
A third came from a Mesut Ozil, Aubameyang and Pepe and it wqas Auba who did the final job via a volley. 1-3 was the final score. Three points gained.
The victory was necessary in order for us to revive ourselves and get back to normal following a streak of poor results at home and away from it in all competitions. WE've got tough games ahead and hopefully, tonight's outcome will be a boost.
Arsenal will play Standard Liege in their last group stage match of the Europa League on Thursday then head back to the league to battle with Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium this Sunday.
0 Comments
Your comments are highly welcomed but please be informed that comments which include abusive remarks, hate speech, racial discriminatory remarks and any other form of prejudice are prohibited. Also note that comments visibility is subject to moderation so they will not show immediately.