The Game

Can this be the day? With Chelsea away at Blackburn and Manchester United facing a tricky home game against Tottenham, we could maybe be closer to the top of the table come the end of the day.

Facing bottom-of-the-table West Ham United is for many an easy game and why shouldn’t it be considering we scored fourteen times in our last four games? But, this is Arsenal and as the West Brom game demonstrated, our players need to be 100% focused on the job if we are to avoid an unpleasant surprise.

Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, Cesc Fabregas and Laurent Koscielny are all fully fit are ready to start and as I wrote yesterday in the preview, it will not be an easy decision for Arsene to decide who will sit on the bench. Nice headache to have.

The game kicks off at 15:00 in the UK, that’s 16:00 in some other parts of Europe and very late or very early for the always-loyal American and Aussie supporters who join us in chat.

And, until you wait for kick-off, check out the situation with the contracts of Wojciech Szczesny and Jack Wilshere and also check out why Lukasz Fabianski is a natural goalkeeper according to our manager.

As always, please do join the discussion in our chat room which will also be active after the full time whistle. You will be glad to know that from this season, to provide a better chat experience to our readers, users can be banned if they post offensive comments.

Streaming Links

For those who don’t know where to watch the game, maybe we can help, follow this link for streaming options. Links are updated before and during the match.

The Line-Ups

Arsenal

Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Song, Fabregas, Denilson, Arshavin, Nasri, Chamakh

Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Vela, Walcott, Djourou, Eboue, Bendtner

West Ham United

Green, Jacobsen, da Costa, Gabbidon, Ilunga, Parker, Behrami, Noble, Boa Morte, Obinna, Piquionne

Subs: Stech, Reid, Tomkins, Cole, Barrera, Kovac, Faubert

Half-Time Thoughts and Analysis

Strange first half of football at the Emirates. After an impressive start in which we create some important chances, we slowly allowed West Ham to enjoy possession as we end the half in a goalless draw.

Robert Green was superb for the visitors and he is maybe the reason why we’re not in front. In the 23rd minute he produced a sensational save to deny Cesc Fabregas, a move started with a breathtaking through ball from Alex Song to Bacary Sagna.

At the back, we were top class, blocking all the attempts of West Ham although we need to involve Cesc and Samir more in the final third. These two can provide for their team mates or score goals themselves so it is important for us to rely more on them.

At half time, it’s Arsenal nil, West Ham nil.