West Ham 1-3 Arsenal | Premier League 26/12/13

[elkanofan]

@TelegraphSport
Aaron Ramsey has torn a thigh muscle which will no doubt rule him out of contention for some weeks...

f**k. Looks like Arteta and Flamini for the next weeks. Come to think of it Jack will just slot back in there in midfield.

[Santi]

Arteta and Jack is good for me. Rosicky and Cazorla can also do alright there tbh.

[Sims]

Thought Giroud looked 10x better when Poldi came on. Some great work to lay it off to Lukas.

Mesut needs to be more greedy, the man is f***ing genius but sometimes he needs to take it on himself and bury the f***er.

[Zenith]

Jack will be back from suspension. Not in the best of form but I still think Arteta/Flamini - Jack works better than Arteta - Flamini.

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

A massive relief to get three points as i thought this game could have ended ugly for us after they got ahead at the start of second half. Theo got lucky with his first goal but a dominating header sealed three points with Podolski's super finish being the icing on the cake. For a side with so many creative players we hardly created anything of note in the first 35 minutes. We finished the first half strongly and unfortunately we conceded a sloppy goal due to poor error from Szczesny. Szczesny has had a good season so far and i hope he does not repeat the sloppy mistake he did today.

I hate to say it but we were meandering with no cutting edge till our play till Podolski came on a forced sub for Ramsey. Stats will not say it but Ozil produced some neat balls for Giroud to latch on to particularly in the second half but Giroud failed to get to the end of them. This game was a clear example where Ozil despite having a good game will not have an assist to show for it as our first choice striker seems to be on a barren run. Theo Walcott does what he does best which is to make an impact in no time. With Giroud firing blanks it was Podolski's arrival which transformed our play. This also allowed Cazorla to occupy the middle of the park and dictate our play better. We looked much better with Podolski and Theo manning the flanks.

Its big relief to get back on to winning ways after three games. As i have said earlier we need players to have a spring in their step everytime they come on to the pitch. For that Wenger needs to make some tough calls to bench some first teamers we clearly looked a tad labored in our play in the first half.

Last but not the least I just hope and pray Ramsey is O.K. Have said it a zillion times you simply cannot keep on playing your best player week in week out without a break till he breaks down. Giroud looks like a player who seem to be running on fumes and Bendtner needs to start against Newcastle.

[Santi]

Jack had 1 terrible game after a month of playing well, let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully if he gets a run in that position, which should be his main position, he can show us some good form again.

[Zedie]

@TelegraphSport
Aaron Ramsey has torn a thigh muscle which will no doubt rule him out of contention for some weeks...

f**k. Looks like Arteta and Flamini for the next weeks. Come to think of it Jack will just slot back in there in midfield.

Probably this, hes had a 2 game rest as well and will be coming back into his favoured CM position, itll be a good chance for him to recapture and hold last seasons form.

Also expect pod to get more game time. Today is what ive been talking about for ages rrgarding WFs, having 2 proper WFs in play instead of cms out wide will make a hell of a difference in the new year.

[gooney]

@TelegraphSport
Aaron Ramsey has torn a thigh muscle which will no doubt rule him out of contention for some weeks...

Thats sad, but it opwens the door for Cazorla as central midfielder. This is a position he played for Malaga and is class at it. Honestly besides the results, im so happy to see the cazorla from last season turn up

[Angelito]

Ramsey

Aside from Poldi's talent, there's just something about him that makes him so likable. I think it's that he exudes joy from every orifice.

Its the smile.

Yeah, I think so too.

[Est83]

WE WILL WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahaha deluded. This team is known for oits collapse. Every expert have been saying when things go bad expect Arsenal to suffer more than any of its rivals and everyone here was saying they were anti arsenal. Why would they be? They see a team that can play well when things are going their way, but has no character whatsoever. We will lose here and against Newcastle and Wenger will go back to his moaning ways

Every pundit and so called expert predicted (year after year) that we would drop out of the top four.... have you not learnt anything from this? They know f*ck-all!

They don't like people trying to do things 'the right way', they don't like foreigners with an obvious hatred for the beloved overly physical side of the game that our pundits from way back when love so much. Incidentally it's the same British bullshit that's kept our national football looking so out-dated.

Ignore the scouse dinosaur pundits and use your f*cking brain! Few teams in any top league have had a 2013 quite like us, and we've done it (much the same us we pushed for all those fourth/third place finishes against the expert predictions) with injury after injury, and cup failings along the way that others predicted would f*ck-up our league form. It's been a long time since we've been a team of mentally weak French panzies that would fear an Allardyce-type team. We're strong, have a diverse array of player-types, have more depth than any Arsenal squad in the last 10 years, and...... we're top of the f*cking league!

[Zenith]

WE WILL WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahaha deluded. This team is known for oits collapse. Every expert have been saying when things go bad expect Arsenal to suffer more than any of its rivals and everyone here was saying they were anti arsenal. Why would they be? They see a team that can play well when things are going their way, but has no character whatsoever. We will lose here and against Newcastle and Wenger will go back to his moaning ways

Every pundit and so called expert predicted (year after year) that we would drop out of the top four.... have you not learnt anything from this? They know f*ck-all!

They don't like people trying to do things 'the right way', they don't like foreigners with an obvious hatred for the beloved overly physical side of the game that our pundits from way back when love so much. Incidentally it's the same British bullshit that's kept our national football looking so out-dated.

Ignore the scouse dinosaur pundits and use your f*cking brain! Few teams in any top league have had a 2013 quite like us, and we've done it (much the same us we pushed for all those fourth/third place finishes against the expert predictions) with injury after injury, and cup failings along the way that others predicted would f*ck-up our league form. It's been a long time since we've been a team of mentally weak French panzies that would fear an Allardyce-type team. We're strong, have a diverse array of player-types, have more depth than any Arsenal squad in the last 10 years, and...... we're top of the f*cking league!

PUH-REACH!!!

[DiamondGooner]

@TelegraphSport
Aaron Ramsey has torn a thigh muscle which will no doubt rule him out of contention for some weeks...

f**k. Looks like Arteta and Flamini for the next weeks. Come to think of it Jack will just slot back in there in midfield.

Not being funny but the inverted trio of Flamini CDM with Ozil & Cazorla CAM flanked by the dynamic duo Walcott & Podolski worked well today.

You can even play two CDM's when you have two wingers like that.

Cazorla was fantastic in the middle you have to say.

[elkanofan]

@TelegraphSport
Aaron Ramsey has torn a thigh muscle which will no doubt rule him out of contention for some weeks...

f**k. Looks like Arteta and Flamini for the next weeks. Come to think of it Jack will just slot back in there in midfield.

Probably this, hes had a 2 game rest as well and will be coming back into his favoured CM position, itll be a good chance for him to recapture and hold last seasons form.

Also expect pod to get more game time. Today is what ive been talking about for ages rrgarding WFs, having 2 proper WFs in play instead of cms out wide will make a hell of a difference in the new year.

I want theo to start too though, issue is if you play Giroud, Theo and jack, you can only play Ozil as the creative juice, i think we need to consider using Podolski as a central striker with Ozil and Caz behind him, with Theo running in from the flanks. We need to possibly give Giroud a few games off, he's not the same guy at the moment, maybe he needs a break to regain his form, possibly feeling under too much pressure.

[AAIRE99]

Cazorla did some fine things, but had some bad moments too, dribbling/shooting/losing the ball when he should pass etc.
Ozil great game but should've scored.
Theo shows why he's so important. Didn't play that well, but he can make things happen.
Ramsey was having a good game before being subbed. Hope he's ok.
Podolski looked very good.
Oh, and Gibbs was very good again.

TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Ozil needs to improve his finishing and take more initiative. But I swear he makes so many little things that are very clever and it doesnt get appreciated

Agree with this. The man is a genius on the ball passing wise but can remind me of hleb times in front of goal.

His chance with that rebound was criminal, keeper was out of the game.

100% agree too, his setup against City is a perfect example of his genius.

Too many yanks on this forum i say...

Even today that ball Ozil put in for Giroud at 0 - 0 in the first half was an absolute f***ing sitter, its as good as a goal.
Id say ozils missing a good 6 - 10 assists because of Giroud this season.

If I were to criticism Ozil in 3 words would probably say.... Lazy, Arrogant, Ego

[Santi]

Ozil has been no where near as bad as some people/papers have been suggesting.