As I was watching those final minutes of the match when it was still goalless, something inside told me that yesterday’s match a key one. I was thinking about the points dropped by Manchester United and Chelsea and how important a win would have been for us. Today, I read that I wasn’t the only one thinking so. Coach Arsene Wenger said:

It is a big win for us because if we had come out of it with a frustrating 0-0 draw, we would have felt that we had wasted an opportunity to get closer to the top. For us it was important to not make a mistake and to take one of our own chances. We gambled a lot and fortunately we had some strikers on the bench and that made the difference in the end.

We knew before the game that we couldn’t afford to drop points today but I must say that West Ham can feel frustrated because they defended very well and gave absolutely everything. In the end we got a little opening, maybe they got a little bit fatigued in the last 20 minutes.

Dutch striker Robin Van Persie agrees:

The win was really important – we knew that before because at half-time we knew Chelsea lost 1-0 and of course Man United had a draw so it was really important to get back and make some steps up the table.

That sums my feeling up pretty nicely. Had we failed to win, we would have been -6 from Liverpool and then yes, I would have been worried, not just for the points but also for the fact that yesterday we had to show that we’re capable of winning these sort of matches. So far, we’ve been hitting 4 and 5 in the Champions League but failing to deliver against the likes of Fulham and Sunderland.

Also, yesterday’s line-up was almost the perfect line-up for me, and I was thinking that if we can’t win with what I consider to be an almost-perfect line-up, then how on earth can we aim for silverware? One thing not to forget is that you don’t win the titles by beating the big clubs, far from that. Look at Chelsea; at home they drew against Manchester United and Spurs and lost to Liverpool. Yet, they are second. Why? Simply because against the small teams they always deliver, something which we failed to do so far. Had we did, we would be much, much closer to the top.

As for the match, I repeat, for me, it was almost perfect. I saw Van Persie fighting to create the space and finally hitting a proper free-kick, Bendtner working for the team, Adebayor scoring another one-to-one chance with the keeper, Song doing well in the position I so-much kept on asking for and the whole team clicking pretty much well together. William Gallas was man of the match in my personal opinion. I didn’t really comment on the “cigarette” episode as I really don’t know what to say. For sure, I was disappointed that Wenger spoke with the media before doing so with the lad, it would have made more sense and I’m sure he did before the match and William responded like a true professional.

We now have no time to relax and enjoy this victory. New-coach team Spurs will be coming at the Emirates on Wednesday on a day where Chelsea will be away at Hull, Liverpool at home against Portsmouth and Manchester United hosting West Ham, who may be a threat if they play as they did yesterday.