West Ham’s U23s cruised to a 6-1 victory over Arsenal tonight inspired by a stunning performance and hat-trick from Armstrong Oko-Flex.
West Ham came into their Premier League 2 opener fielding a much stronger team than their North London neighbours as a number of first-team players turned out for the U23s.
Arthur Masuaku, stepping up his fitness as he returns from a knee injury that kept him out for much of last season, joined Ben Johnson, Manuel Lanzini and Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko in the side to take on an Arsenal team that may not have contained any first-team stars but still boasted fantastic young talents like Miguel Azeez and Omari Hutchinson.
Lining up in a 343, West Ham looked to press Arsenal high right from the start. And much like the Arsenal senior team, the young Gunners didn’t look at all comfortable when given such little time on the ball inside their own final third.
After a relatively slow opening period where both sides were guilty of giving the ball away, the first chance fell to Arsenal when Charlie Patino latched onto a loose pass from Masuaku and eventually worked the ball to the opposite flank where Omari Hutchinson turned away from Lanzini and got a shot away that West Ham goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi did well to push past the post.
But it wasn’t long after this that the West Ham press came into effect in a way that saw Arsenal unravel at the back for the first of many times on the night…
In the 13th minute West Ham squeezed up on the Arsenal defence following a goal-kick and Lanzini’s pressure forced an error from Patino inside his own box with the ball falling to Mipo Odubeko from Yarmolenko’s poor first touch. Odubeko needed no further invitation, we’ve seen how deadly his finishing can be from some of the belting strikes he put away last season, and here he spun quickly and effortlessly thwacked the ball into the top corner past Ovie Ejeheri from 12 yards. 1-0 West Ham.
Though, almost directly from kick-off, Arsenal were right back at the Hammers as right-sided centre-half Zane Monlouis arrowed a delightful pass through the lines and into Hutchinson’s feet who brought the ball under his spell immediately and skipped past Jamal Baptiste driving towards the West Ham box only to be ruthlessly chopped down right on the edge by the recovering Lanzini; who somehow escaped a booking for this gloriously executed act of tactical fouling. Hutchinson dusted himself down to take the resultant free-kick which he fired a foot-or-so over the bar.
The game calmed for a period as West Ham took control and edged closer to the Arsenal goal. There were half-chances for Oko-Flex and Baptiste before they next went close through Lanzini as he won the ball on the edge of the box for the third or fourth time in the game and fired a shot in from range. It took a huge deflection off Omar Rekik that nearly saw it spin over the diving Ejeheri. Just wide.
West Ham’s press had Arsenal sweating buckets for much of the first half but finally in the 39th minute they managed to get their act together and play themselves up the pitch tidily after a combined lapse in concentration from Yarmolenko and Harrison Ashby. Hutchinson was instrumental as ever as they worked the ball out to right-back Brooke Norton-Cuffy who curled in a delicious cross which Ben Johnson did very well to divert from danger. Ashby, having made the initial mistake that led to this passage then doubled down as he was beaten to the loose ball and turned far too easily by Zak Swanson who drove towards the six-yard-box only to be stopped by a diving block from Johnson again.
The first half was brought to a close as Masuaku saw a long-range effort saved comfortably by Ejeheri and West Ham could be reasonably pleased with a performance that merited their 1-0 lead. Arsenal would need to find ways to beat the press more consistently and be far more direct once they did so. Unfortunately for them, the second half would only bring about the exact opposite of both of those things.
Armstrong Oko-Flex was signed by West Ham this summer on a free from Celtic after he struggled to make a breakthrough and get an opportunity in Scotland. But before Celtic he was at Arsenal who he joined when he was spotted by Arsenal hero Liam Brady while playing for St Kevin’s Boys in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. And tonight, he seemed very motivated to get one back over his old club.
In the first half Oko-Flex had sparkled but not shone; he clearly had the beating of Norton-Cuffy but just couldn’t find the space or the time in the box to get a clean shot or cross away each time he got past his man. So it was richly deserved whenhis desire to press was rewarded in the 58th minute as he pinched the ball off Monlouis and darted into the box before steadying himself and coolly slotting the ball into the bottom corner. 2-0 West Ham.
West Ham had barely finished their celebrations when they went flying after Arsenal straight from the kick-off and their enthusiasm, combined with Arsenal’s inexcusable lackadaisical response, was rewarded as Conor Coventry forced Azeez to turn and play back to Rekik who was then forced to turn and play back to Ejeheri by the onrushing Odubeko.
Ejeheri had Odubeko and Oko-Flex charging at him and could be excused for being a little flustered but it was the lack of desire to create an option from those in front of him that forced him to play a ball straight up the middle… And straight into the feet of the gleefully waiting Coventry. The rest was either magic or horrific, depending on how you look at it, probably a bit of both, as Arsenal’s defenders stood and watched Coventry gracefully dribble straight through the middle and directly through on goal to smash home West Ham’s third. 3-0.
Arsenal did briefly regain some composure but it wasn’t long before another turnover in midfield forced by Coventry and Lanzini would spring another Hammers attack. Yarmolenko firing a lovely pass off to release Odubeko 1v1 against Rekik who chopped inside, managed to keep the ball under control through a couple of challenges before returning the ball to the Ukrainian who obliged with an audacious flick for that man Oko-Flex to cut inside Monlouis and smash the ball into the bottom corner again. 68 minutes played, 4-0 West Ham.
Now the changes would come. Lanzini was the first to be withdrawn after a near-faultless individual performance that further illuminated his rapid development in this deeper midfield role. He was replaced by Freddie Potts, son of Steve. Yarmolenko was also withdrawn after a middling performance to be replaced by 19 year-old winger Dan Chesters. And Mipo Odubeko was brought off for new signing Thierry Nevers. Odubeko had pressed well throughout and deserved his goal but will need to develop sharper movement in the box if he is to go up another level. There were several times West Ham’s full-backs got free and delivered crosses into good areas that Mipo probably should be getting on the end of if he is to make the grade as West Ham’s backup to Michail Antonio for the coming season.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, the fifth would come after they again wilted under pressure in their own defensive third. This time left-back Mazeed Ogungbo losing the ball to a fresh Dan Chesters who steadied himself brilliantly by the corner flag to whip in a fantastic cross which Oko-Flex met to deftly flick into the opposite corner for his hat-trick. 5-0.
There would nearly be a fourth for Oko-Flex shortly afterward when Ashby released Chesters down the right again for him to pick out a perfect cross. Oko-Flex’s first shot was blocked and second flew wildly over as he was off-balance.
Though it would only be moments later when the sixth finally did come when Coventry played an outstanding ball over the top of the Arsenal defence for Chesters to latch onto who was denied a shot at goal by the recovering Rekik. The resultant corner was played short by Oko-Flex who combined with Coventry to get Chesters away again. Another excellent ball in, it was a brilliant cameo from the young winger, would find Thierry Nevers who simply had to let the ball hit him from all of four yards to come away with a debut goal.
It was almost the perfect performance from West Ham who could have added a seventh through Coventry but in the dying moments Omari Hutchinson was finally rewarded for an individual performance that didn’t warrant his being on the losing side as he jinked his way into the box past Baptiste who was slow to react and brought the flying winger down to give Arsenal a stoppage time penalty.
It seemed unfair that Miguel Azeez grabbed the ball to take it, his lack of intensity in Arsenal’s midfield had been one of the key reasons why the scoreline was 6-0, but take it he did and to be fair, if you can rifle in a penalty as emphatically as he would, you probably deserve to be taking them.
Full-time. Final score: West Ham 6, Arsenal 1.
Dmitri Halajko can be thoroughly pleased with what he saw from his West Ham U23 side tonight. Although they were undoubtedly helped by the inclusion of first-team players Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Masuaku and Johnson, there were also outstanding performances from Coventry, Alese, Chesters and Oko-Flex.
With West Ham’s already small squad facing the additional burden of European football this season, it’s likely that some of these players will get minutes in the Premier League and if Moyes wanted them to prove that they were ready, they certainly did so tonight. It wouldn’t be surprising if the lineup for the Carabao Cup 3rd Round is very similar to this one and I’d be more than excited to see Armstrong Oko-Flex and Conor Coventry combining again.
Come On You Irons!
Jack Elderton 