West Ham 0-1 Arsenal

A rather lacklustre performance from Arsenal, but they managed to churn out the win by holding off West Ham's assault in the first 20 minutes of the second-half, and also some early pressure in the first 10 minutes.

Arsenal's only notable highlights would be van Persie's header in the 13th minute, a strike which was pushed onto the bar, and some delightful passing. Hleb did some good work down the right flank, before being set free and he crossed a beautiful ball in, and van Persie attacked the ball excellently, beating Lucas Neill in the air, and powering his header home. Green tried in vain to save the header, but it had too much power for him to do anything.

In the 30th minute, Mark Noble came in with a rather high and dangerous tackle, catching Hleb and he had to be stretchered off, to be replaced by right-back Emmanuel Eboué, who has played right midfielder a number of times this season. He proved a more than capable replacement, doing some great work down the flank, offering Arsenal a different kind of game than when Hleb was on. Hleb provided cutting-edge passes, creativity and plenty of trickery and mazy dribbles which catch defenders out, while Eboué provided a more defensive, but equally attacking game, having a robust style of play and loving to take defenders on as well as providing some cover for right-back Bacary Sagna.


Early in the second-half, van Persie fired a rocket of a strike with his weaker right-foot, but Green managed to push it onto the post. That, by far, was Arsenal's best chance in the second-half. Former Gunner Ljungberg also had a goal ruled out for offside, but it was a close decision that could have gone either way. Dean Ashton also had a few great chances, but he wasted all of them. West Ham right-back Lucas Neill was greatly troubled by Diaby's pacy runs and long strides down the left-wing, and Diaby almost always reached the bye-line before cutting a pass back. Seems like Diaby is a more versatile player than Vieira was, having the ability to dribble past a couple of opponents. He also defended the left flank well, together with fellow Frenchman Gael Clichy. Diaby is an uncharacteristic left-midfielder in the sense he played a defensive game, combined with his dribbles down the left-wing, and offered some bite and suport from midfield.

Mathieu Flamini was brilliant throughout, constantly harrying opponents and hassling them. However, he made a few rash challenges which I felt were unnecessary. He even got a yellow card. Fabregas played a strange game, playing so deep in midfield he was actually playing Gilberto's defensive midfielder role, with Flamini playing the central midfield role, with the freedom to get the ball and take shots if too much space was allowed.

A hard-fought win, but Arsenal take their winning streak to eight in a row.