SoccerBlogs

The starting line-ups didn't have any surprises. Mertesacker came in for Koscielny and Ramsey started over Coquelin.

There was a surprise in the way West Ham set up to play as the hosts sat off initially and invited pressure. Big Sam generally likes his teams to get at Arsenal when playing at home but it seemed he wasn't confident enough of his side's ability to defend if they pushed up, a concern that was justified in the second the half.