Arsenal 1 West Ham 0

In at last....Arsenal players bury goalscorer, Song under a huddle of joy

This was supposed to be a walk in the park. No hard evidence supporting that, except of course the only reason being that fellow Londoners, West Ham were propping up the table while our recent form has been quite literally, frightening.
Well, well events of the afternoon at the Emirates proved not in conformity with such prediction. West Ham, or more specifically, Robert Green made life very difficult for us with their dogged determination to save their season and avoid defeat at our hands.
They succeeded thanks largely to the efforts of Green, who stopped three point-blank, goalbound balls from first Fabregas; then Alex Song; then Squillaci; later again from Fabregas. In between all these, when he was beaten by the ball, the post and the bar stood in our way as Samir Nasri’s first half freekick and Theo Walcott’s delightful breakaway shot came back from the bar and post respectively.
It was looking very much like a frustrating day for us until, Song dived full length to nod in a cute lob from overlapping Gael Clichy in the 88th minute.
The roar that greeted the goal around the packed Emirates was more out of relief than celebration.
So we held onto second spot after and continued our recent good form bnoth home and away. It wasn’t a vintage performance but there would always be days like those.
What mattered at the end was the three points and that we secured – thanks largely to the heroics of Song.

Below are the ratings
*Fabianski (6/10) – Didn’t have too much to do actually but whencalled upon on about three occasions in the first half, he reacted very well to maintain our clean sheet. In such tight, see-saw games, a claen sheet is always the first foundation to getting anything out of games and he ensured that very much. Surely now, he is a man transformed.
* Clichy (7/10) – Did well on the day as he helped contain the threat of the big Frederic Piqouine particularly in the first half when WestHam carried some attacking threat. His cross into the box which resulted in the goal by Song must count as a huge moment of significance in the game.
*Koscielny (7/10) – Did very well to contain Piqouine, Boa Morte and the dangerous Nigerian Obinna Nsofor who took turns to run at our defence in the first half. Koscielny has proved how good a man marker he is and once again he showed it in this game. Never ruffled no matter the opposition.
* Squillaci (7/10) – He returned to the team after being rested for the midweek Carling Cup tie against Newcastle. His experience helped calm things at the back as always and he almost nicked a goal deep into the first half off a corner. The stunning form of Green however stopped that happening.
* Sagna (6/10) – Had a rather quiet game by his standards but that was due to the fact that West Ham retreated into their shells and opted to defend in the second half. Helped curb the threat of Piqouinne in the first half though and not surprisingly, contributed to the other Frenchman’s eventual substitution.
* Denilson (6/10) – Played in the defensive midfield hole in front of the defence and didn’t quite excel. Credit must however go to him for doing the dirty job and shackling the enigmatic Scot Parker, because that allowed Song to maraud forward and support the attack. If the truth be told, Denilson has been playing due to the suspension of Jack Wilshire and it remains to be seen if he’ll get a look-in once the excellent Englishman returns.
* Song (8/10) – Has very much transformed into a spinal player very in the mould of the Patrick Vieira. Not a bad comparison at all, considering the humble beginnings of the Camerounian. Even before he scored that 88th minute clincher, his presence was allover the pitch as he continually popped up in sensitive spots performing a myriad of functions. His goal eventually, was well deserved as no other player on our side, put in more hard yards than him on the day. Keep it up Alex.
* Nasri (6/10) – He wasn’t on top of his game Saturday but even the best players in the world have theiur off days. He cracked a delightful 35 yarder onto Robert Green’s bar however in the 40th minute, which had it gone in, would be candidate for goal of the season. His bags of tricks are still heavy with plenty of surprises.
* Fabregas (6/10) – Even he confessed that he had a poor game and it says a lot about his personality to admit that. Got going really in the second half but was thwarted ont two occasions from scoring by Green’s heroics. Later emerged that he played with a hamstring problame all game.
* Arshavin (5/10) – The Russian is clearly troubled by a mystery problem. He’s not himself and is not close to exhibiting the talents and abilities we all know he possesses. There has been talk of a contract extension to keep him here for the next three years but with his dwindling form, who knows if his future still lies with us. His displays keep getting curiouser and curiouser.
* Chamakh (5/10 ) – Our Moroccan gladiator never got going in this game. His level dropped very much and he seemed exhausted. Couldn’t recollect finding him in any threatening position or shooting at target all afternoon. But as with many other players on the day, he was off form.


Substitutes
• Walcott (7/10) – In a crisis, he must be the go-to man now. He came on in the 65th minute and showed the extent of threat he carries by skinning Heita Ilunga almost immediately and aiming for goal with a finecarpeter that unfortunately struck the post and rebounded into Green’s arms.
• Bendtner (5/10) – Also came on for the misfiring Arshavin but never really found his groove.


A not-so-good performance, but very vital win this was and it keeps Chelsea within sight. We go to Minsk on Wednesday night for our reverse Champioins League engagement with Shakhtar Donetsk and it promises to be a night of attrition as the Ukrainians will be hellbent on exacting revenge for their 5-1 pasting two weeks ago. A note of optimism however will be the return of Wilshire.