Hammers Blogs

Wilshere is right; it’s a good time to face Arsenal – opinion

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Naturally, losing your first two games of the season is going to evoke a feeling of disappointment. That said, it’s futile to regret missed opportunities, our focus should be solely focused on beating Arsenal this weekend.

As our early season results have demonstrated, our transformation under the guidance of Manuel Pellegrini is going to take time, and we must be patient and support the team in this transitional period. And, perhaps, the best way to start our campaign would be beating an Arsenal side – who are also adapting to life under new management – who are seemingly bereft of confidence.

The Gunners were comfortably dispatched 2-0 by Manchester City in their first game of the season, and despite battling back to 2-2 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, they were dealt a late blow courtesy of Marcos Alonso’s late winner. Accordingly, this could be the best opportunity to face the Gunners, as Jack Wilshere has declared this week.

Our recent record against the Gunners doesn’t make for pleasant reading, we have failed to beat them in our last six games in all competitions. In fact, our last victory against them was a surprise 2-0 victory at the Emirates in August 2015.

While they flaunt a superior record, they’ve shown that their defence is frail, and it can be exploited. One area in which we could enjoy success is by targeting their right-side of defence. Throughout their last defeat against Chelsea, Bellerin was exposed continuously allowing the Blues to penetrate their defence.

A similar strategy could prove to be exceedingly beneficial for us, especially if Felipe Anderson runs at the Spanish defender with purpose and confidence. Additionally, their new centre-back pairing of Mustafi and Sokratis is still enduring some teething problems which presents another area that we could try and target.

Clearly, it would be ludicrous to ignore their wealth of attacking talent, and in truth – with the number of chances they created against Chelsea – they could have won the game. But, if we can contain their creative players, and utilise our wingers, then we could pull off an upset.

What are your thoughts? Let us know!

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