Welbeck shades it as Wenger moves closer to ‘missing’ cup triumph
THE League Cup remains the one glaring void on Arsene Wenger’s domestic CV but, in reaching an eighth semi-final, there is a growing sense this Arsenal squad have never been better equipped to meet that challenge.
Rather like Manchester United last season, Arsenal have increasingly taken the character over recent months of a cup team.
A squad of extraordinary numbers is backed up by players such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, who seem more attuned now to big one-off occasions rather than the week-to-week grind of the Premier League.
It was evident last season in the FA Cup and, in having a reserve team that has reached the latter stages of the Europa League and now the League Cup, Arsenal’s season suddenly seems less dependent on the league.
A scrappy 42nd-minute goal by Danny Welbeck was sufficient to get past a West Ham United team who were certainly stubborn but lacking in any sort of coherent attacking threat. One big concern for Arsenal, however, was the loss of Olivier Giroud to a hamstring injury after 78 minutes.
The League Cup might offer Arsenal’s best chance of a trophy, but the priorities for Wenger were again clear in his decision to rest the entire starting team that beat Newcastle United on Saturday.
Arsenal face Liverpool in the Premier League on Friday to begin a festive schedule that, relatively speaking, is less arduous than normal in its concentration of matches.
The depth of Arsenal’s squad quality these days, however, is such that Wenger does have the luxury of making such comprehensive rotations while still being able to field a team packed with international experience. A front three of Theo Walcott, Giroud and Welbeck would grace many Premier League teams and, behind them, were plenty of past regulars.
Wenger had continued with the 4-2-3-1 system he played in drawing 0-0 with West Ham in the Premier League last Wednesday and this match soon settled into a similar pattern.
Arsenal had struggled at the London Stadium to turn around two thirds of possession into clear chances against a West Ham 3-5-2 formation that was largely designed to stif le the central areas.
The same challenges were evident, with Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin and Joe Willock soon seeing plenty of the ball in midfield.
David Moyes, the West Ham manager, had fewer options to
rotate amid a three-game unbeaten streak that has seen his team climb out of the relegation zone. But, even with six changes, the same diligent organisation was evident.
One especially eye-catching change recently for Arsenal has been Wenger’s preference in the Premier League for the defensive discipline at left-back of Ainsley Maitland-Niles over the more f lamboyant qualities offered by Sead Kolasinac.
It meant Kolasinac starting here and, while he does sometimes leave space behind him, the benefit of his willingness to drive forward was evident. Having taken the risk to push in behind West Ham’s defence, he delivered a wonderful first-time cross straight into the path of Walcott.
The striker was unmarked in front of the penalty spot but, to the groans of the crowd, aimed his header wastefully wide. It was a frustrating miss, but proof Arsenal’s best chances might come from the width of their full-backs.
Mathieu Debuchy has been impressive on the right and his run into space was then picked out by Coquelin. The cross was excellent, with Welbeck timing his run perfectly to get between Winston Reid and James Collins.
Welbeck missed with his attempted header but the ball dribbled down his body and then squirmed past goalkeeper Joe Hart off the striker’s shin. It was scruffy but, having played 132 minutes over this past week without breaching West Ham, Arsenal were just relieved to establish a lead.
The goal had no impact on the pattern of the match. Arsenal continued to boss possession but were largely crablike in being forced sideways. Moyes was seemingly content to maintain a strategy of damage limitation.
His team had been offering almost nothing offensively until almost an hour in when a simple long ball was played over the Arsenal defence for Javier Hernandez to chase. He had outpaced Rob Holding and was closing in on David Ospina’s goal, only for the Arsenal centre-back to bundle him over just outside the penalty area.
Perhaps inf luenced by the lack of a f lag from his assistant Stuart Burt, referee Kevin Friend waved play on. West Ham then launched another attack which ended with Arthur Masuaka being upended by Debuchy. Friend, this time, awarded a free-kick from which Aaron Cresswell shot wide. It did at least briefly lift the 7,000 West Ham supporters behind Ospina’s goal.
They were further buoyed when Moyes made the inevitable switch to Plan B and introduced both Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho.
It would have only the most limited impact, however, with Arsenal progressing comfortably into the last four. (©Daily Telegraph, London)