Monday 10 August 2015 10:23, UK
West Ham shocked London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates 2-0 on Sunday – and delivered an early blow to the Gunners’ Premier League title ambitions.
Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate were on the scoresheet for Slaven Bilic’s side, while youngster Reece Oxford and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech experienced very different debuts.
Here we pick out the talking points from the match…
Reece Oxford
At 16 years and 236 days, Reece Oxford became West Ham’s youngest-ever Premier League player on Sunday. However, his performance belied his years.
“He’s been phenomenal. A star is born,” Sky Sports co-commentator Niall Quinn said. “He’s been mature, he’s ordering people around. It’s unbelievable to see. He’s mobile, he gets around and he knows the game. He’s a natural.”
Sitting in front of the West Ham defence, much of Oxford’s best work was done without the ball at his feet. Only Diafra Sakho had touched the ball fewer times than Oxford (33) when he was substituted on 79 minutes - but no West Ham player had made more tackles (three) or interceptions (three) than the England U17 captain.
Oxford was economical with the ball, too. He regained possession four times and lost it just once, while all but one of his 21 passes found their target – the best pass completion rate of any player on the pitch.
“It was a dream debut,” Oxford told Sky Sports. “It’s an honour to play for West Ham and to be the youngest.”
Cech’s mistakes
“It’s a day to forget for Petr Cech.” That was the assessment of Quinn after watching Arsenal’s £10m summer signing make errors for both West Ham goals.
Prior to kick-off, Cech had the best saves-to-shots ratio of any goalkeeper to have made at least 50 saves in the Premier League over the past three seasons (78 per cent). However, the former Chelsea shot-stopper looked anything but the assured presence between the sticks Arsenal fans had hoped for when he wildly rushed out to try to punch Dimitri Payet’s free-kick midway through the first half.
Cech was nowhere near goal-scorer Kouyate when he glanced the ball home. “Cech comes flying out and he’s got to do better,” said Jamie Carragher in the Sky Sports studio. “If you come out like that you have to take everything.”
Things got worse for Cech after the break when he was wrong-footed by Mauro Zarate’s speculative shot from the edge of the box.
Chelsea captain John Terry said Cech could be worth 12-15 points to Arsenal this season. It could be suggested the goalkeeper is currently standing on at least -1 at the moment.
New season, same problems for Arsenal?
This is supposed to be Arsenal’s season, the year the back-to-back FA Cup winners deliver the consistency and quality needed to win the Premier League. However, against West Ham, there must surely have been an all-too-familiar feel of frustration and disappointment among Arsenal fans.
Once again, Arsenal were exposed from a set-piece. West Ham scored 15 headed goals in 2014/15, second only to West Brom (16), while Arsenal conceded the highest proportion of goals to headers (36 per cent). New season, same story. This time it was Kouyate who profited from Arsenal’s poor aerial defence.
“Nacho Monreal was the wrong side of Kouyate – and as a defender you’d never want to be in that position,” Carragher said, while Graeme Souness was critical of Arsenal’s defensive line being too high. “The players were talking about doing different things this season,” added Carragher, “but isn’t that [defending] a recurring theme for the Arsenal players?”
Just two wins in Arsenal’s first eight games last season proved costly come the end of the campaign, and Arsene Wenger’s side could be in danger of once again damaging their title challenge before it gets going.
A tough trip to Crystal Palace – fresh from a 3-1 win at Norwich – followed by a Monday Night Football encounter with Liverpool are next up for Arsenal. Wenger will be hoping his team click into gear for those encounters, or they’ll once again be facing an uphill battle.
Only one club has lost their first game of a Premier League season and gone on to win the title, though: Manchester United in 1992/93, 1995/96 and 2012/13.
Bilic's boys deliver
"I don't know where this season is going to bring us," Slaven Bilic told Sky Sports ahead of kick-off. "We are going to try to play good football, try to be solid as a unit."
It's safe to say the West Ham boss' team delivered on both counts at Arsenal on Sunday.
"West Ham had a gameplan and they were fabulous today," said Souness. "If they can play like that every time they go away from home they'll win lots of games. If those boys play with the same determination and enthusiasm, they'll cause lots of people problems. They were very, very impressive today."
Carragher was equally impressed. "They had things you don't associate with West Ham in away games," he said. "They were solid at the back, didn't look like conceding and had power and pace on the counter-attack, which is vital."
