The season’s first Super Sunday did not disappoint with regard to providing a few sturdy talking points as West Ham made the short trip across London to face Arsenal at the Emirates.Admittedly goalmouth action was few and far between during the Hammers’ surprise 2-0 victory but the Premier League debut of Reece Oxford (just a sweet 16) and some truly terrifying goalkeeping (if you’re an Arsenal fan) meant that fans up and down the country will be debating exactly what went down at the Emirates Stadium.Buckle yourself in and enjoy our Three things we learned from Arsenal vs West Ham…
1. Pinning hopes on Petr Cech *may* have been a tad premature
So… it turns out that simply buying Petr Cech does not guarantee success after all.
With weeks of commenters suggesting that Cech was the missing piece of the jigsaw, destined to bring Premier League glory back to north London, that theory seems to have imploded rather spectacularly.
The giant stopper has definitely at fault for Cheikhou Kouyaté’s opener after coming storming off his line to be stranded in No Man’s Land while Mauro Zarate’s snap turn for the second goal caught Cech flatfooted and way out of position.
Of course, it will take Cech time to bed in. But this won’t quite be the fairytale combination Arsenal fans dreamed it may be.
2. Bilic’s West Ham could be a beautiful thing
Facing your first test as a Premier League gaffa at the Emirates isn’t an enviable position to be in, but Slaven Bilic passed with flying colours.
A compact and disciplined display from the Hammers rendered Arsenal’s kaleidoscope of attacking talents relatively redundant throughout the match. Including Reece Oxford from the off was a ballsy move, while Mauro Zárate and Sakho up top looked a dangerous combo.
Kudos too, to Bilic, for resting up most of his players going into this game. Only two first team players started for the Hammers in the Europa League midweek and, while they crashed out of the tournament, Bilic will be having the last laugh for sure.
3. The future’s bright for Reece Oxford
16 years old and straight in for your Premier League debut against Arsenal at the Emirates? We’re not sure we can think of too many more daunting experiences in the world of football.
But fair play to West Ham’s youngest ever player, he came through this one with great credit. A lung-bursting run alongside Sakho saw the striker too selfish to feed Oxford in around the 20 minute mark, while throughout Oxford marshalled his back four very well against the tiki-taka threat posed by the likes of Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey.
The future’s bright indeed for Oxford but perhaps it’s for the best not too talk it up too early.
