Arsenal reserves beat their West Ham counterparts 2-0 at Underhill tonight, in their final home fixture of the campaign. First-half goals from Rui Fonte and the impressive Jack Wilshere were enough to see off the Hammers and end the East London side’s hopes of winning the Reserve League South.
Neil Banfield called upon the first-team experience of Abou Diaby and Armand Traore for this fixture. However, a re-shuffle was required after Johan Djourou picked up a slight knock in the warm up and was forced to watch from the sidelines. Abu Ogogo was drafted into the starting line-up at right back, so Havard Nordtveit pushed across into the centre.
Following his impressive performance as a substitute against Derby last time out, 16 year old Jack Wilshere was given a starting berth on the right wing, whilst Rui Fonte was preferred to Gilles Sunu up front.
Arsenal started with the following formation:
———————Mannone—————————
–Ogogo—–G.Hoyte—————-Nordtveit (c)——Rodgers
–Wilshere—Diaby——————Thomas———-Traore
———–Fonte——————-Barazite————-
subs: Szczesny, Steer, Murphy, Sunu.
So, to the game and Arsenal started off the better side, and had the first clear-cut opportunity of the game on 4 minutes, when Nacer Barazite hit a powerful shot just wide.
At the other end, West Ham were causing Arsenal problems in the air, and Vito Mannone had to be alert to claim a dangerous looking cross from the right.
Arsenal were soon in action again down the other end of the field, Rui Fonte skipped past a couple of opposition players and was brought down just outside the area by Payne, and a free-kick was awarded. Traore stepped up to take it and hit it low, hard and straight at the wall. It bobbled around in the penalty area and fell to Fonte who hit a shot straight at the ‘keeper.
Arsenal had dominated the early stages of the game, but by now West Ham were growing more and more into the match. First, Stokes hit a terrible shot well wide, but then Junior Stanislas did well to work some space and fire away a shot at goal. His effort hit Gavin Hoyte and went out for the corner. It was a decent ball in, but Arsenal cleared and quickly launched a counter attack.
Jack Wilshere found Nacer Barazite and the Dutchman threaded through to the on-rushing Traore, but the Frenchman scuffed his shot.
Three minutes later though, the Gunners did find the back of the net. Wilshere showed tremendous composure and pace to cut inside and hit a perfectly-timed pass into the path of Rui Fonte and the Portuguese frontman showed good awareness and technical ability to toe-poke it home for only his second reserve goal of the season.
Rui certainly likes it better when the ball is played on the ground, and the pass from Wilshere complimented his run perfectly.
Less than ten minutes later, Wilshere was on target himself. Barazite found the England Youth International in space, and Wilshere cut inside and hit a scorcher of a shot at goal, which hit the post and went in. It was a peach of the strike and was made even better by the fact that Arsene Wenger was watching on from the stands. The goal even managed to force a wry smile from the Frenchman.
Jay Thomas was determined to get in on the act too and hit a decent left-footed effort at goal, but it was an equally good save from Marek Stetch.
Moments later, Barazite had another effort on goal and brought a corner out of Stetch, but the Gunners made nothing of the resulting set piece.
On 41 minutes, Abou Diaby had to be withdrawn after picking up a hip problem and was replaced by Gilles Sunu. Gilles was unlucky not to start the game, and played on the right side of midfield for the rest of the half, with Wilshere pushing into the centre like this:
——-Sunu———Wilshere——-Thomas———Traore
The Frenchman had a chance to make an immediate impact shortly after his arrival, but hit his effort well over the bar.
Two minutes of added time were signalled, and the only notable incident during that period was the booking of Nacer Barazite for dissent, after the Dutch u-19 international showed his frustration at what he thought was a poor decision from the referee.
Shortly after, the man in black blew his whistle and the Gunners went into the break two goals to the good.
Half time- Arsenal 2 West Ham 0
After what must have been a good talking to from their manager at the half-time interval, West Ham came out with renewed energy and ambition in the second half and Gavin Hoyte had to be alert almost immediately to deny Stanislas.
Stanislas was by far the best player on show for the Hammers all evening, but wasted a good opportunity when he hit a free-kick wide from a decent position.
Arsenal loosened the shackles a little and began to play their renowned passing game once more. A decent move found Gilles Sunu in space and the Frenchman was allowed the time to shoot, but once again it was straight at the ‘keeper.
Arsenal switched their formation slightly at this point, with Barazite and Sunu swapping positions:
—–Barazite——–Wilshere————Thomas———Fonte
——————-Fonte————–Sunu—————-
Wilshere then hit a long range free-kick from the edge of the pitch and managed to force a corner out of Stetch but it was a poor delivery in the end.
At the other end, Mannone was lucky not to concede- after he flapped at a corner which hit off the post, and thankfully for the Italian stopper, ended up in his hands.
The game was now losing its fluidity and although Stanislas forced a couple of good saves from Mannone, there was nothing to threaten the Gunners’ back-line too much.
Traore, playing on the left-wing once more, managed to skip past the highly rated Jordan Spence and hit a decent cross into the box, but it was a weak header from Rui Fonte.
It was to be Rui’s last involvement in the game and he was replaced by Rene Steer on 73 minutes to add some defensive stability.
Arsenal now lined up like this:
—Rodgers—-G.Hoyte———-Nordtveit——-Steer
—Wilshere—-Thomas———Ogogo———-Traore
————–Sunu———–Barazite————–
West Ham made a change of their own, with Oliver Lee (son of former England and Newcastle United player Rob Lee) coming on for Stanislas.
Lee’s first involvement was to hit a wild effort over, but he showed great confidence to shoot from distance.
Arsenal’s latest replacement was also getting in on the action, Rene Steer played a neat one two with Sunu, a clever flick from the Frenchman, but Steer mis-hit his shot and showed a lack of composure in doing so.
The Gunners were to have a couple more efforts before the night was out; Traore tried a decent effort from the edge of the box, whilst Wilshere hit an angling effort from a similar position, it fell to Steer who whipped in a left-footed cross, the ball found Sunu but he was offside.
On 83 minutes, Neil Banfield introduced Rhys Murphy for Wilshere, with Rhys taking over Jack’s role on the right side of midfield.
Gavin Hoyte was involved in a physical tussle with West Ham’s Stokes all night, and it resulted in the latter elbowing Hoyte in the face which duly earned him a yellow card.
Traore hit another shot just over, much to the dissapointment of Barazite, who was in a glorious position in the area.
Two minutes were added on again and Barazite took a fantastic first touch to earn himself some space, but the finish wasn’t up to his usual high standards.
The final whistle went. With this victory, Banfield’s boys have stretched their unbeaten run to six matches and take on Aston Villa next Tuesday in their final game of the season.
Full time- Arsenal 2 West Ham 0
PLAYER RATINGS
Vito Mannone-6- Wasn’t as composed as usual but made some decent saves nonetheless.
Abu Ogogo-6- Got turned a couple of times but was commited as ever. Good physical strength.
Gavin Hoyte-6- Made up for some early errors with some excellent tackles.
Havard Nordtveit-7- Calm under pressure, but needs to work on his short passes.
Paul Rodgers-7- Calm and collective, and versatile too.
Jack Wilshere-9- JEORGE BIRD’S MAN OF THE MATCH
Continued where he left off last week with a stunning performance; made one, scored one and showed tremendous passing ability.
Abou Diaby-6-Some good passes before picking up a hip injury.
Jay Thomas-7- At the heart of the team and played some good through-balls.
Armand Traore-7- Direct again, but lacking the end product this time.
Rui Fonte-7- Much improved performance, took his goal well. Still has a lot to work on, though.
Nacer Barazite-7- Terrific first-half, seemed isolated when moved to the right.
SUBS
Gilles Sunu-6- Worked his socks off and could have scored
Rene Steer-6- Involved in attacking moves
Rhys Murphy-5- Little time to influence the game.
