Football: Arsenal's hit and miss affair
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal 1 West Ham United 0
IT WAS exactly what we should have expected at this time of year from the Premiership's most traditional club as Arsenal paid tribute to a faithful servant and indulged themselves to wasteful excess. As is also customary on the day after Christmas they were given the chance to feast on ham - West Ham, that is - but, while Arsenal were presented with the game on a plate, they merely picked at their hapless opponents in a match which should have been won by half a dozen goals.
Arsenal's wonderful first-half display provided a snap-shot of Arsene Wenger's vision of the future. The thrust of their attack was driven by the powerful link play of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, ahead of whom Dennis Bergkamp worried away at the West Ham defence with a series of diagonal runs towards Shaka Hislop's far post. Marc Overmars, meanwhile, gave Trevor Sinclair a seasonal roasting on the left-hand side in what was a cruel mismatch of attacking prowess and defensive unfamiliarity.
A 1-0 interval lead was poor return indeed after Overmars' right-footed shot beat an inattentive Hislop at the near-post with only seven minutes gone. Bergkamp, Ray Parlour, Lee Dixon and Nicolas Anelka all had chances as Arsenal had 21 attempts on goal in the opening 45 minutes. Arsenal's profligacy was symbolised by the decision to substitute their substitute, Christopher Wreh, who was replaced by Giles Grimandi in the second half.
The return of Ian Wright to Highbury for the first time since his transfer to West Ham turned out to be a side-show. Arsenal's record goalscorer looked about to take a lap of honour before kick-off as he applauded the generous volume of chants and cheers from the Highbury crowd.
This, as it turned out, was the highpoint of a miserable afternoon in which his most significant contribution was to nick the ball off the toe of Eyal Berkovic in the last minute to inadvertently prevent a West Ham equaliser.
"Things are not in our hands," Wenger commented afterwards on his team's championship aspirations. "We have only won two [consecutive] games. We have to be realistic and our chances are very, very small." Wenger's disingenuousness was perhaps overplayed, but his team will be brittle title contenders without a consistent striker to complement the extraordinary attacking talents of Overmars and Bergkamp, especially as Anelka's ankle injury could keep him out for up to three weeks.
Goals: Overmars (7) 1-0.
Arsenal (4-4-2) Manninger; Vivas, Keown, Bould, Dixon; Petit, Vieira, Parlour, Overmars; Anelka (Wreh, 30; Grimandi, 76), Bergkamp Substitutes not used: Winterburn, Boa Morte, Lukic (gk).
West Ham United (3-5-2) Hislop; Pearce, Ferdinand, Potts; Keller (Lazaridis, 64), Lomas, Berkovic, Lampard, Sinclair; Hartson, Wright. Substitutes not used: Breacker, Omoyimni, Margas, Forrest (gk).
Referee: P Jones (Loughborough). Bookings: Arsenal Vivas. West Ham Keller, Lazaridis.
Attendance: 38,098.
Man of the match: Bould.
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