Hammer blow for Gunners

Petr Cech had a league debut to forget as Arsenal suffered a 2-0 home defeat at the hand of local rivals West Ham on the opening weekend of the new season.

The veteran goalkeeper, who has over 300 Premier League appearances to his name, looked to have instilled a more calming influence into the Gunners back line, especially after helping them to lift the Community Shield with victory over former club Chelsea. But it didn't go according to plan against the Hammers and Cech should've done more to prevent the goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate on his league debut.

Arsenal played nothing like they had the week before against Chelsea and were very poor for most of the game at the Emirates. What disappointed me most is that we didn't even show much fight to try and get back in the game. We had most of the possession and over 20 shots at goal yet we didn't force Adrian into too many difficult saves. Huge improvements are certainly needed for the next match away at Crystal Palace. Take nothing away from the visitors though, West Ham fully deserved to win their first league match under new boss Slaven Bilic. 16-year-old Reece Oxford made his Premier League debut for the visitors and his impressive battling performance matched that of his team-mates, to leave the Gunners frustrated.

Neither side created too much in the opening quarter, with Laurent Koscielny heading over for the hosts before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain saw his volley go just wide of the top corner.

West Ham continued to frustrate Arsenal and their defence deserve a lot of credit for an excellent performance. Angelo Ogbonna, who joined the Hammers from Juventus over the summer, did superbly well to block Olivier Giroud's volley and the hosts were finding it very difficult to break down their opponents.

As the match approached the half hour mark Cazorla sent a volley just over before Aaron Ramsey's deflected strike hit the crossbar. Ramsey sent his next effort just wide, while Adrian had to react quickly to deny Giroud with an excellent save, although it was soon pulled back for offside.

Arsenal's wastefulness in front of goal came back to haunt them as West Ham opened the scoring two minutes before the break. Kouayte beat Cech to the ball and headed home Dimitri Payet's free-kick.

The Gunners nearly found a response before half-time Mesut Ozil's effort was well blocked by Hammers' defender James Tomkins.

Arsenal continued to have more of the chances in the second half but still couldn't make them count. Giroud turned and shot into the side netting before seeing his deflected strike saved by Adrian soon after.

If the Gunners are to have any chance of mounting a more serious challenge for the Premier League title this time around they need to do far better at converting their chances. Over 20 shots on target and with no goals to show for it simply isn't good enough and the Hammers made them pay.

Bilic's men doubled their advantage after 57 minutes after the Arsenal defence failed to clear the ball on the edge of the box, allowing Zarate to wrong-foot Cech and fire a shot into the bottom corner. Cech should've done better in getting to the ball in what was turning into a nightmare league debut for the 33-year-old.

Alexis Sanchez, who only returned to training recently and was a surprise inclusion among the substitutes, came off the bench after 67 minutes as Arsene Wenger attempted to salvage something from the game. The Chilean worked hard as always and tried to help his side's case but there just weren't enough players stepping up to the plate to help in what was a dire display.

There was a break in play going into the final quarter of the match following a clash of heads between Giroud and Tomkins, but fortunately both players were able to continue. In previous seasons, if we were 2-0 down with 15 minutes left, I would believe that one goal could totally change the game and that things could still turn around for the better. But on this occasion my usual optimism wasn't there and I was already sensing it was game over, thus highlighting just how poor we were on the day.

We continued to try, but failed, to get back into the game with Oxlade-Chamberlain smashing a shot into the side netting before Cazorla forced Adrian into a fine diving save. It was an excellent save but we should've tested Adrian on a lot more occasions prior to this and not just simply in the closing stages of the game.

At least Sanchez seemed to be trying to rescue the game as he forced two further late saves from Adrian, but on the whole it was a very poor team performance from the Gunners.

OPPOSITION'S VIEW
Hammers' fan Paul Silver was pleasantly surprised by his side’s performance and he said: "Going into this game, I wasn't in the least confident or hopeful we'd end the streak and win away at the Gooners.

"After a questionable pre-season, in which our strongest side or formation was unestablished, I carried little hope. Seeing us line up with Noble and Kouyate seemingly trying to provide the width in a diamond 4-4-2 I wondered where our attacking threat would come from. However, fears were soon allayed when I saw us start with verve and vigour, playing a high pressing game with plenty of tempo and aggression.

"The scoreline somewhat flattered us in the end, and admittedly we were spending the last 20 minutes sitting deep defending for our lives, but we were deserving of the three points I feel. I've much reason to be feeling a little optimistic that Bilic will banish the Allardyce blues and negativity and bring some pride back to the Boleyn."

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
For West Ham this was a great start to the season and something positive to build on, while Arsenal supporters were left with the familiar sinking feeling we have experienced in recent league campaigns. We can't simply blame Cech though. Yes he made some errors but he is still a class goalkeeper. None of the players on the pitch particularly impressed against the Hammers and all of them, along with the manager, should shoulder the blame equally. I am desperately hoping that this was simply a bad day at the office, but we will have to put in a far better performance if we are to bounce back at Crystal Palace in our next match.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS