On the back of the recent 2-0 home defeat against West Ham, many questions via journalists, pundits and social media have been thrown in Arsenal’s direction as to how this, as what can only be described as a shock, happened. I personally feel that the lack of width in the team on Sunday ultimately led to Arsenal’s downfall. The play was much too narrow and even though Arsenal had much superior possession, 61.8%, they rarely managed to create any dangerous chances. Only 6 of the registered 22 shots were on target and 8 were blocked by the stubborn Hammers’ defence.
However, with Arsenal’s reputation for having a large quota of central and especially wide midfielders, the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Alexis Sánchez, Welbeck, even the summer acquisition of Jeff Rene-Adelaide should be included in the options for a wide birth; especially when the opposition team included a 16 year-old who performed excellently considering his lack of premiership experience. Why weren’t we able to spread the ball and make the pitch as large as possible, stretching a West Ham defence that had a ‘make do’ right back in the form of Tomkins?
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