A perfect weekend comes to an end. Manchester United failed to beat Everton, Chelsea lost at home and we have just secured three massively important points at Upton Park, a very tough nut to crack.

The 2nd half featured more than 10 important things to mention, starting in the 48th minute when a Robin Van Persie corner was deflected by Walcott and then by a West Ham defender over the top, but no corner was given. Minutes later, a Bellamy free kick was met by Cole but his header goes wide with Almunia covering it. Craig Bellamy was again part of a nice West Ham move when he out-paced our backline on the left but his cross found Gallas waiting to clear.

Pressure on West Ham started to mount and in the 66th minute, Walcott does well on thr right, his cross reaches Van Persie whose effort is blocked away in the path of Song whose shot is also blocked, into a corner. From the resulting corner, Emmanuel Adebayor – who came in with Diaby in place of Walcott and Nasri respectively – can only head it wide.

Great response from the man of the match

In the 70th minute, the Van Persie show started. He first made space and unleashed his left foot with Green blocking despite a deflection. Two minutes later, Fabregas is tripped outside the penalty area, Van Persie steps us but his ferocious effort strikes against the post. This was Robin at his very best.

As luck looked to be going away from us, Adebayor made his way into the penalty area, crossed in the path of no Arsenal players but Faubert sticked his foot out and gave us an own goal lead. We kept on going forward and a super Bendtner-Adebayor one-two saw the Togo man hitting a low effort with Green saving yet again.

West Ham reaction came in the 80th minute when Cole chested it down to Bellamy whose shot is easily blocked by Almunya. Minutes later, an awful bounce off Song left Collins with a crack at goal but his effort is high. In the final minutes of the half, West Ham won a free kick which was deflected to a corner out of which panic came out in our penalty area, the ball was somehow cleared in the path of Nicklas who did magnificiously well to shield the ball, pick Adebayor who dribbled Green and slotted it in the empty net for 0-2!

All this means that we are back in the title race, although I never thought we were out of it. This was such a tough match to win and I’m delighted we did, we just couldn’t miss the train this weekend. The table, as things stand is all smiles for us, ahead of Wednesday’s tricky North-London derby.


Player Ratings

Almunia: 9,5 – Just one, tiny mistake when he didn’t come out and put Gallas under pressure. The rest, perfection!
Gallas: 10 – What a response! It was as if he told some, “You can take ‘that’ cigarette and stick it up your a** as I’m a footballer and this is what I do right”.
Silvestre: 6 – The only so-and-so note of this match. He was out-paced a number of times by Bellamy but let’s hope he’s just still settling in.
Clichy: 8 – Very solid performance from him and so glad to see him clear the ball when it’s required.
Eboue: 6,5 – Not at his best, but again did well in his natural position.
Song: 7,5 – Finally! Wenger listened to my prayers and started with him instead of Denilson. Another silly yellow but you can see he’s excellent going forward and also when defending is required.
Fabregas: 7 – He saw a lot more of the ball than he did when he had Denilson as his partner and produced some brilliant through-balls.
Nasri: 5 – An uncharacteristic below-par display from the Frenchman on the wing.
Walcott: 6,5 – I was surprised to see him replaced, he created a lot and a lot of trouble to West Ham. Was unlucky not to score in the first half.
Van Persie: 7,5 – A quiet first half, just didn’t click with Bendtner but after suffering a knee injury and getting through it, it was as if he knew his body was able to react to challenges and went for it.
Bendtner: 7,5 – Also had a quiet start and was a bit sluggish but once he settled down, he did exceptionally well especially in the 2nd goal.

(Subs)
Diaby: 6,5 – Did his job pretty well.
Adebayor: 8 – For the 2nd match running, he had two chances and converted one, with Green doing really well in one of the two.
Sagna: No vote.