Olivier Giroud & Lukas Podolski celebrate an Arsenal goal.
Arsenal supporters were very happy at the end of this rearranged Boxing Day match. The West Ham supporters weren't quite so amused, despite being in rapture earlier in the match when their club took the early lead in this London derby. However, at the end of the day the Gunners' somewhat maligned strike force showed exactly what they were capable of, using a scintillating second half performance to down the Hammers 5-1 at the Emirates.
One would not have guessed that the full time result would include so many goals judging from the opening minutes of the match, when both sides looked a little lethargic and out of sync. Chances were non-existent in the first ten minutes, and when the first one finally came, it was hardly noteworthy. On the tenth minute Ricardo Vaz Te put his head to a cross from Guy Demel, but pushed it well wide of the target.
West Ham did look the slightly more dangerous side though, as they tried to press the Arsenal goal. Carlton Cole missed the target in the 15th minute, but the Hammers finally took the lead in minute 18. Arsenal failed to totally clear a corner kick, and the ball fell to Jack Collison sitting outside the penalty area. Collison unleashed a wicked drive that soared past Wojciech Szczesny and tore into the back of the Arsenal net to make it 0-1.
The strike seemed to finally jolt the Gunners awake though, and they responded almost immediately. In the 22nd minute Jack Wilshere dropped the ball off to Lukas Podolski who was lurking outside the Hammers' box. The German smacked a shot of his own into the net with a huge drive that probably exceeded the greatness of Collison's effort four minutes earlier. The Gunners were back in the match at 1-1.
Arsenal finally started to hit their stride with their passing game and started to mount more attacks on the West Ham goal. They came close to taking the lead right before halftime, when Jussi Jaaskelainen just managed to parry Santi Cazorla's effort away from the top corner, keeping the sides even going into the break.
There was nothing even about the second half though, as Arsenal opened an all out assault on the Hammers from the opening whistle. In the 47th minute Olivier Giroud volleyed a home a Theo Walcott corner to give the Gunners their first lead of the evening at 2-1. They were hardly done though.
In the 53rd minute Cazorla got on the board as he took a pass from Podolski and knocked home a goal from close range to make it 3-1 to the Gunners. Podolski would play provider again just a minute later, hitting Walcott in the center of the box with a spot-on through ball. The England international promptly slotted it home to make it 4-1 and the blowout was in full effect. They would tack one more goal on in the 57th minute when Giroud tapped in from up close to complete his brace and make it 5-1.
The venom went all out of the match in the 72nd minute though, when West Ham's Daniel Potts dropped to the floor after a clash of heads with Arsenal's Bacary Sagna. He was treated on the pitch for some 18 minutes with an emergency blanket, gas, and a neck brace. He was eventually stretchered off and West Ham continued with 10 men as they had already used all three substitutions.
The match faded out through the 90 and 12 minutes of stoppage time, with 5-1 being the score at the full time whistle. The three points were huge for Arsenal after back to back losses to City and Chelsea. Potts spent Wednesday night in a London hospital and tests showed that he had indeed sustained a concussion. He returned home on Thursday, thanking well wishers on West Ham's website. He will be evaluated further before he is allowed any future training.
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