The first half started badly for the Hammers with Herita Ilunga only lasting seven minutes before he came off injured with a hamstring problem. After some early pressure from Villa, Carlton Cole became the second hamstring victim when he limped off after a half hour, replaced by Zavon Hines.

Almost immediately Hines became an irritation for Villa. Just before half time Scott Parker made a great run from midfield and laid off to Guillermo Franco who quickly found Hines. The youngster was goal-bound but was pushed in the back by Villa’s Beye. The ref pointed straight to the stop and Mark Noble smashed the penalty past Brad Friedel. Soon after the half-time whistle was blown and two Villa players were booked for arguing about the penalty in the tunnel.

When the second half started it only took Villa three minutes for Villa to almost get level. James Collins was fouled in the area by his Hammer’s replacement Manuel Da Costa. The ref gave Villa a penalty, but it seemed very harsh for the level of contact. Ashley Young struck the penalty well, but Rob Green made a great save in front of the watching England manager.

Unfortunately for the Hammers, Ashley Young made up for his blunder after fifty minutes when he swept over a cross towards the goal that just dipped under the bar. After the goal, the match was back and forth until five minutes before the end when Beye cut down Jonathan Spector and was promptly sent off.

Deep into stoppage time “Hero Hines” made a great run inside the Villa area and shot passed Friedel to excite the 30,000 Hammers fans.

So close, but no cigar. Another draw for the Hammers after it looked like three points in the bag. Hammers almost were a goal down with a close header by Darren “I thought you had a bad knee” Bent after five minutes. But a strike from outside the penalty box from Valon Behrami showed the Black Cats that the Hammers hadn’t traveled all that way for second prize. Hammers took the lead after half an hour with a wicked cross from Jack Collison straight to newboy Guillermo Franco who did what he does best and tap in from a few yards.

It was almost two a couple of minutes later with a nice turn and shot from leading goalscorer Carlton Cole, but it was just pushed away. But Carlton got his goal in the 36th minute when Jack “I never stop running” Collison slotted the ball to Carlton who knocked it in.

Sunderland was back in the game a couple of minutes later when a direct free kick by Andy Reid surprised Rob Green. However the excitement of the first half was not over, when Hammers fans got the gift of Sunderland being reduced to ten men when Kenwyne Jones was shown a straight red by the ref for pushing over Ilunga, which is no mean feat.

In the second half, Guillermo Franco showed why he will be a threat this season when his header almost made it past the Sunderland goalie. Early on, Gordon saved superbly from a Franco near-post header from a corner and Cole failed to hit the target when well placed. But the second half saw Sunderland fighting hard and Rob Green proving why he is the England Number 1.

Unfortunately the last fifteen minutes went all wrong for the Hammers, Sunderland’s Bent crossed to Richardson for an equalizer and then just before the end Radoslav Kovac got a second yellow for a late tackle and was sent off.

If Alessandro Diamanti and Carlton Cole can continue their goal scoring partnership then perhaps three points might be the right reward for making the long trip up North. However with Scott Parker out again to suspension, the team will have to change again and this constant rearrangement may be the issue that is producing negative results.

Good news for the Hammers is that Sunderland’s goalscorer Darren Bent is 50-50 due to a knee injury and along with Sunderland’s loss at Birmingham last week, a result may be on the cards. Sunderland may also have to field a side without ex-Hammer George McCartney, Bardsley, Cattermole and Campbell. It will be interesting to see if Steve Bruce player ex-Hammer, Anton Ferdinand, who spent most of his adult life in Claret and Blue.

The dynamic duo of Carlton Cole and “future superstar” Alessandro Diamanti scored two amazing comeback goals for the Hammers and the Gunners once again fail to breakdown the boys in Claret and Blue.

To be fair, the Gunners shot out the gate and within a few minutes had a header and a shot from Van Persie close to putting them ahead. And it was a unfamiliar boob from Rob Green running into James Tomkins that allowed Van Persie to get the simpliest of goals. Before that the Hammers looked up to the task and that error seemed to bolster the confidence of the team. Mark Noble’s came close with a cross that really was a shot that missed by inches and a cross from Jonathan Spector was met by the goalscoring head of Cole, but was just wide.

However it was Van Persie that undid the Hammers for a second time after 36 minutes when his accurate corner was nodded in by Gallas after Herita Ilunga and James Tomkins were silver and bronze in the jumping competition.

After half-time, the game was back and forth until Zola decided to give the future superstar Alessandro Diamanti a chance to shine, by bringing off Mark Noble, who had a good game up to that point. Almost immediately Diamanti was making the most of his chance and started peppering the Arsenal goal. After 63 minutes, Zola decided to replace the debutant Guillermo Franco with the eager Zavon Hines. The two substitutes hooked up with Diamanti putting through Hines for a good chance. But with 15 minutes to go it was Hines who was fouled and a perfect curling free kick by Diamanti was pushed out by Gunners goalie Mannone right on to the head of Cole to give the Hammers a lifeline.

The goal sapped the confidence right out of the Gunners, and for the second time in a few days they could see a potential victory slipping from their grasp. With the Hammers sensing the Gunners frailty they pushed forward and Cole was brought down in the 80th minute. Diamanti stepped forward with total confidence to score from the penalty spot.

Although it wasn’t three points, we didn’t lose and we came back strong. Let’s hope we can do better in the North next week.

The match with Arsenal is certainly not a foregone conclusion. Many journalists have written the Hammers off against the Gunners, but it’s never that easy for the Gunners to come to Upton Park. We all recall the 1980 Cup Final and time after time the Gunners have failed to pick the Hammers off. No doubt Arsene Wenger wants three points to mount a serious challenge to Chelsea and Manchester United this year, but those points are not in the bag yet. He has players that are doubtful with injuries like Bendtner, Rosicky and Nasri, as well as long-term injured like Walcott, Denilson and Djourou.

The other name in the frame is the 22 year-old Juventus playmaker Sebastian Giovinco. The Turin born midfielder has played for the Italian U-21 team and was a goalscorer for Italy in the 2008 Olympics. The only downside to Giovinco is his size, at 5 foot 4 inches, he would certainly be able to avoid punches from Robert Huth, but perhaps his stature wouldn’t be suitable for the physical game in the Premier League.

The Hammers defend themselves against the charges by stating that they complied with all the requests made by the police-led safety advisory group and also point to the fact there were no direct clashes between the opposing supporters inside the ground (but there may have a been a few minor disagreements outside the ground…). The police had access to the 47 CCTV’s at the ground and the club issued ten lifetime banning orders to the fans that were identified as pitch invaders (see picture).

The FA have not announced any date for a hearing about the charges, neither have they indicated what punishments would be brought if they rejected the arguments brought by Millwall and West Ham.

I am concerned, a little. Yes, a loss at Stoke, albeit by a single goal means the Hammers have now not won since opening day and that is seven games without a win. I think the team is not bad, but perhaps “toothless”. Of course, it’s always an ex-Hammer who thinks that they have to prove that they shouldn’t have been sold. This week it was Matthew Etherington who won the penalty that put Stoke ahead and whilst tormenting the Hammers defenders in the first half.

After the Stoke goal it took until the 30th minute before future superstar, Alessandro Diamanti, got a clean shot at the Stoke goal and a couple of minutes later, Matthew Upson connected with a Mark Noble corner, fooling the Stoke defense and scores with a free header.

After half-time, Zola decided to move our future superstar Diamanti up with the lonely Carlton Cole and it almost paid off when Alessandro made a neat turn and shot which Stoke keeper, Sorensen, just held on to. Unfortunately Beattie, the scorer of the Stoke penalty, made it 2-1 after 68 minutes when he latched on to a loose ball after Rob Green pushed away a shot.

The game turned nasty late on when Stoke’s Robert Huth punched Matthew Upson causing a nasty bleed near his eye. Upson left the field and amazingly Huth didn’t even get a yellow card. It is unbelievable that none of the officials saw the incident, but you can bet there is enough video of the incident that the FA will be calling on Monday.

So another week without a win, but it’s not desperate times yet, plenty of clubs within a couple of points. Let’s hope the West Ham board does nothing stupid.

On the downside Zola loses Scott Parker who has collected too many yellow cards and has an automatic one match suspension.

Perpetually injured Kieron Dyer misses another match, while Welshman Danny Gabbidon has a calf injury but hopefully could make the trip up north if fit.

Of course, bringing Candreva to Upton Park would hopefully inspire a great match up with the future superstar, and ex-Livorno teammate, Alessandro Diamanti. Unfortunately Zola’s efforts may be thwarted by big Italian clubs like Inter and Juventus, who have also been tracking Candreva’s form this season.

The other fly in the ointment for Zola must be the on-going financial issues with CB Holdings that are holding him back from bringing in top names to Upton Park. All season we have heard about Zola’s desire to sign the disgruntled Bayern Munich player, Luca Toni, but the lack of funds may have scuppered that deal from ever reaching fruition.