Arsenal

[The Fox]

Stab at a makeshift XI for tonight: Szczesny; Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Kallstrom, Arteta; Rosicky, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud

Good job West Ham pretty much bypass midfield, because that right there is the slowest central pairing in world football. Hopefully Ozil, Ramsey and Ox will be available to do a job off the bench if needed.

[The Fox]

Oh my God that team!

Left flank of Vermaelen-Podolski is gonna make Downing look like Messi lads. Could be a long night.

Gotta be the oldest XI we've had out in years, too.

[exwhyzed]

Youngest outfield player is Giroud

[Silent Runner]

Average age of Arsenal players 29.5.

[gizmo1990]

Guardian blog has Gunnersaurus down as a sub. I did lol.

[Silent Runner]

Brilliant pass out from defence from Kim, I think. Pity we're as slow as a slug on the counter.

[Rev]

NOT LOSING.

[Rev]

STILL NOT LOSING.

[Silent Runner]

Fuck me - what a touch and finish.

[The Fox]

Giroud with some form of optical illusion, there.

[humdrum]

Fuck me - what a touch and finish.

Makes you wonder why he didn't smack the one in the first half with his right foot.

[JamesTW]

2-1 Olivier Giroud

I think if you lot only get a draw we (liverpool) qualify for champions league unless you win every game about 10-0

[Rev]

I don't know what language I'm watching it in, but they're bloody obsessed with Van Persie. They must have said his name 30 times in the last 10 minutes.

[Rev]

By fielding an entire team slower than the orbit of Neptune you don't notice how slow they all are as much. It's like an optical illusion.

[humdrum]

fucking get in!

[The Fox]

Ramsey tho.

[Rev]

Well, that wasn't the game I was dreading at all. God knows why West Ham played without any motivation at all in a match they could clearly have grabbed hold of after the first goal. Really, really bad performance from them but we were alright, considering. Ish.

[Commander Jameson]

Much respect to Giroud for his celebration tonight.

[Larsen B]

Went with my dad who is a West Ham fan but has a soft spot for Arsenal.

The first half was one of the most insipid things I've seen from both teams. Just not an interesting contest at all and we were functional and uninspiring with no-one seeming like they'd have a spark to make anything happen. Essentially two defensive errors leading to the two first half goals summed it up. Lucky that Podolski scored though because you could feel the half time boos would have been unbearable.

Also the home crowd were almost non-existent for the first 30 minutes. I'm used to it being relatively quiet and for there to only be 3 songs sung for 90 minutes but the fans could barely muster an "Arsenal, Arsenal" amongst them. Full credit for West Ham's "we hate Tottenham more than you" chant which brightened it up a bit.

And then in the second half we were almost completely different. Far less ponderous, direct and powerful. Definitely deserving of the win.

I'd like to see Kallstrom's passing stats. Especially in the first half, he tried to play balls over the top to Podolski on the left and over-hit every one. Diabolical accuracy.

[Rev]

I'd like to see Kallstrom's passing stats. Especially in the first half, he tried to play balls over the top to Podolski on the left and over-hit every one. Diabolical accuracy.

He's always done that. See also, shots from range.

I've not looked, but I very strongly suspect he has the most amazing highlights clips whilst also not being that good.

[The Fox]

I thought he looked decent moving off the ball and he's a big lad, but he failed to track his runner for their goal and his passing was all over the shop. Even slower than Arteta, too.

[Sirloin]

He's always done that. See also, shots from range.

I've not looked, but I very strongly suspect he has the most amazing highlights clips whilst also not being that good.

Very harsh in Kallstrom, his first couple of years at Lyon he was amazing. Might be past his best now, but he was top drawer for a while.

[The Fox]

DAT HEADER

[Rev]

Very harsh in Kallstrom, his first couple of years at Lyon he was amazing. Might be past his best now, but he was top drawer for a while.

He probably used to have a better hit rate, but every time I've seen him play (which isn't that often, really) he was always very Hollywood.

[chamberlago]

DAT TOUCH

[Silent Runner]

There was a replay angle of Girouds goal on Sky - camera behind the goal, at pitch level. They only showed it once, I'd love to see it again.

[chamberlago]

DAT ANGLE (?)

[Shoes]

That's an incredible touch.

[chamberlago]

I've always considered myself a bit weird for the fact I prefer an amazing first touch to an amazing goal. Seriously, I can watch that touch on a loop all day.

This is why Dennis is my hero and here's something I never thought I'd say (and will almost certainly never say again), but there's shades of Bergkamp from Giroud there.

[Silent Runner]

Always liked Tony Pulis.