WHZ View: The forgotten Italian maverick – West Ham 2-2 Arsenal, 2009
West Ham fans have always been a sucker for a maverick with the ability to lift them off of their seats.
Over the years we’ve been spoilt, at times, by an array of individual talent in east London, but it so often ends in heartbreak. Paolo Di Canio, Joe Cole, Dimitri Payet, Marko Arnautovic just to name a few.
One man is often overlooked. Alessandro Diamanti arrived out of nowhere from Livorno in 2009, relatively unknown. He left just as quickly at the end of the 09/10 campaign but had won the hearts of thousands of east Londoners for his wand of a left foot and charisma.
Diamanti got seven goals and five assists in his sole season at Upton Park. There was one particular October evening in which he won the love of the fans, against Arsenal. As we face them tomorrow, West Ham Zone decided to look back on his performance.
West Ham 2-2 Arsenal – 25th October 2009
In a classic at Upton Park, West Ham (in typical fashion) went two goals down to the Gunners in the first half.
Robin van Persie and William Gallas both scored in front of the Bobby Moore. The Hammers had it all to do in the second half, but Gianfranco Zola had an ace up his sleeve.
Diamanti had featured just five times for West Ham but was showing signs of class early into his tenure. His two assists in our previous home game with Fulham has already salvaged us a 2-2 draw that season, and he was up to it again here.
He was introduced on 55 minutes for Mark Noble and the game turned on it’s head. Dictating play, the Italian played a beautiful scooped ball for Zavon Hines to chase onto. The striker was brought down on the edge of the box by Gael Clichy, around 30 yards out.
The Hammers number 32 struck a curling effort with his left foot. Arsenal keeper Vito Mannone parried it into the path of Carlton Cole who headed home, just like that it was game on.
With ten minutes left to go, Cole returned the favour. He was brought down by the clumsy Alex Song and Chris Foy pointed to the spot. Diamanti was deadly from 12 yards, slotting the penalty home and giving the Hammers a famous 2-2 draw in the process. Just like that, a star was born.
It was so disappointing to see him leave after just one season. He said in an interview his one regret in his career was leaving West Ham. We regret it every bit as much as him!
Since then we have an awful record against the Gunners. This was one of five times in our last 22 meetings we’ve avoided defeat. Let’s hope for better fortunes this Sunday as we really need a win.
In other West Ham news, Fabianski can play a huge role this Sunday against the Gunners.