West Ham 0 - 1 Arsenal

September 30, 2007 on 3:12 pm | In Arsenal FC, Matches Reviews 2007/2008 | posted by Jack |

It certainly wasn’t the comfy win Ben asked for on Friday, but it was very satisfying nonetheless. Upton Park hasn’t been the easiest place for us to come recently, so overlooking the performance, 3 points is very good.

We started, as you’d expect, with our strongest 11 available at the time. Hleb was passed fit, and looked promising before a nasty challenge taking his standing leg ended his game. The latest news seems to be that there is nothing broken, but his leg is very badly bruised. He certainly won’t be playing on Tuesday night in the Champions League. The only goal came in the 13th minute, van Persie meeting Hleb’s cross, and heading into the corner. The rest of an injury interrupted first half was fairly uneventful, van Persie hammering a free kick straight at Green from a tight angle, and Lucas Neill firing over the bar.

West Ham started brightly in the second half, but failed to create anything clear cut. The first major chance of the half fell instead to van Persie, who, arguably having his best game of this season so far, sidestepped a defender, and planted a shot against the post with his weaker right foot. Replays showed Green made a vital touch to push the shot onto the post. Ashton looked dangerous, and perhaps should’ve done better with several headers he had - van Persie clearing one off the line. It was Freddie though, who went closest for West Ham, having an effort ruled out for offside. Replays show that it was very tight - I think he was marginally onside. Sometimes you need that kind of luck to win these kinds of games. Adebayor went close for us, played in well by van Persie, but Green saved smartly to his left. Clichy also had a shot from the edge of the area smartly saved by Green. Finally, there was a strong shout for a penalty on Fabregas. I haven’t seen a replay of this incident, so I won’t pass judgement - but from behind the goal I was pretty damn convinced it was a penalty - still - the referee had a far better vantage point than me.

There weren’t a lot of great performances, but a few players stood out. Sagna was very solid at right back, looking more and more like an excellent signing every time I see him play. He made vital interceptions and tackles. Flamini, as has been the story so far this season, looked impressive in midfield, and as always, gave 100%. Cesc fell a little short of his high standards - but it’s all relative - he was still one of the better players on the pitch. van Persie, as I mentioned early, had arguably his best performance of the season so far, and I’m sure the goal and overall game will have done him a world of good. Finally, on a negative note, Eboue looked quite dreadful. I’m not sure if he is fully fit yet, but when he came on for Hleb, he looked lazy, and very ineffective. I can’t remember him tracking back and making himself useful in defense at all, and I was frequently wondering what the hell he was doing.

It certainly wasn’t vintage, beautiful Arsenal football like we saw against Derby last weekend, but it was just as gratifying. This is the sort of game we may well have lost last season. There is a nice party atmosphere following Arsenal at the moment, and it certainly wasn’t dampened by the less exciting performance. “We are top of the league, say we are top of the league!”

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb (Eboue 31), Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby, Adebayor (Silva 79), Van Persie (Bendtner 88). Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Denilson.

Goals: van Persie 13.

Attendance: 34,966. They’ve got more fans than Chelsea!