Arsenal, Hammers square up

WHEN Manuel Pellegrini and Unai Emery were appointed within a day of each other in May, neither could have envisaged that when their Premier League teams met for the first time three months later, West Ham and Arsenal would be joint bottom and pointless.

Two games is no measure of a season, and both were handed the hardest possible opening fixture, but their poor starts have given today’s derby at the Emirates an unexpected edge as each scrambles to kickstart a response.

Both managers have arrived with a bagful of experience and trophies with Arsenal boss Emery a multiple Europa League winner with Sevilla and West Ham’s Pellegrini a Premier League champion with Manchester City.

Of the two, Emery has taken on arguably the greater challenge, succeeding Arsene Wenger at a club needing to reassert its top-four potential.

West Ham spent the equivalent of around R1,8-billion on new players in the close season and Pellegrini said he is unconcerned about the poor start.

“If you review my career, at Villarreal, at Malaga, at Manchester City, the first games that I managed were never good games,” he said, while acknowledging that some of West Ham’s defensive work against Bournemouth had been unimpressive.

Any repeat today will sharply crank up the pressure.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth have offered a glimpse of their potential with two victories in as many League games but cannot let their strong start lead to complacency, manager Eddie Howe said yesterday.

Bournemouth beat promoted Cardiff 2- 0 in their opener and followed it up with a 2-1 win at West Ham last weekend to maintain their 100 percent record ahead of today’s league clash with Everton.

“We’ve shown some good signs of what the team could be, glimpses of what the future may hold, but we’ve still got to deliver that and we know in the Premier League how difficult that can be,” Howe told reporters. – Reuters