17.18 –

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Reid, McCartney, Noble, Diame, Vaz Te, Nolan, Jarvis, Carroll. Subs: Henderson, Tomkins, Cole, Maiga, Taylor, Benayoun, O’Neil.

Arsenal: Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Cazorla, Arteta, Gervinho, Giroud, Podolski. Subs: Martinez, Koscielny, Andre Santos, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Arshavin.

17.32 – Arsenal, wearing their third choice yellow kit, kick off. West Hammer wearing their usual claret and blue.

17.44 – The Hammers are under heavy pressure early on but do have an outlet in Carroll. Ricardo Vaz Te lumps it long and the 23-year-old blocks Mertesacker’s clearance (possibly with his arm) and lays off to his Portuguese team-mate.

I can see that being a common theme to West Ham’s play this evening.

17.51 – A series of Cazorla corners result in a second chance for Giroud after a scramble in the box. The Frenchman picks his spot but three defenders guard the line and Carroll heads clear.

18.25 – Watch Giroud’s equaliser. Gunners fans will hope it’s the first of many:



YouTube credit: Alban Maestro

18.42 – Lengthy spell of Arsenal possession around 35 yards out from the opposing goal. They eventually lose the ball and West Ham break.

Matt Jarvis sends a ball across but it’s cleared away. He could be key to Carroll getting on the scoresheet, you feel.

18.47 – Carroll flicks on a long throw-in and it drops to Jarvis. He blazes over, however.

Wenger has taken off Gibbs for Brazilian full-back Andre Santos.

19.06 – GOAL! West Ham 1-2 Arsenal (Theo Walcott)

A couple of minutes after West Ham are denied a possible penalty, Walcott takes a pass from Giroud and strokes it around the West Ham keeper for his fourth goal of the campaign.

19.26 – Full-time: West Ham 1-3 Arsenal

19.39 – Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: ”I’m very happy because it was a game played with a high tempo. They scored a great goal. From then on we could not concede a second one and had to get our game going and we did that in a convincing way.

On Walcott: “He has that (the goal) in him, I said that many times. One or two years ago he was not sure when he got in front of the keeper but now you are.”

On Cazorla: “Fantastic, he had an outstanding performance. If you love football just watch him play, he’s a joy to watch.”