Gunners grind out victory

Van Persie: Headed winner

Related links

Teams

• Arsenal
• West Ham United

Also see

• West Ham fixtures
• West Ham stats
• West Ham forum

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal earned themselves a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Upton Park over a determined West Ham United.

Robin van Persie's goal was enough for The Gunners, but West Ham were no pushovers, in what was a thoroughly entertaining game.

Alexander Hleb found himself in a decent position on the right, and the Belarus international bent a wonderful ball in for Van Persie to head home on 13 minutes.

The Hammers piled on the pressure in the second half and Dean Ashton was presented with a fantastic opportunity to level, but headed straight at Manuel Almunia.

Minutes later former Arsenal man Freddie Ljungberg made a typical diagonal run and was slotted through to poke past Almunia. However, the strike was ruled out for offside.

West Ham continued to push for an equaliser but Wenger's men dug deep and managed to hold on, to the delight of the travelling supporters.

The Gunners are currently in blistering form and again started brightly. Inside the opening two minutes Arsenal broke quickly down the left, with Abou Diaby cutting the ball back to Emmanuel Adebayor, who drilled a low shot just wide from 15 yards.

West Ham, though, soon rallied and Ljungberg was unfortunate to be flagged offside when collecting a quick backheel from Ashton on the edge of the Arsenal box.

The England hopeful was then sent clear himself, only to again be called up by the referee's assistant on the far side.

Arsenal, though, were ahead on 13 minutes. Adebayor held the ball up well on the right side of the area and fed a pass out to Hleb.

His centre flew across the six-yard box, where Van Persie arrived on cue at the far post to glance a header past Green, who was at full stretch and could only push the ball onto the post and in.

The goal silenced the home crowd, and after such a positive start the Hammers suddenly looked disjointed.

As the half-hour approached, West Ham were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men following an X-rated challenge by Mark Noble on Hleb.

The Belarus midfielder, just back from a knee problem, had to be carried off with what looked like a similar injury and was replaced by Emmanuel Eboue.

Arsenal were incensed but referee Alan Wiley deemed a yellow card sufficient punishment.

There were five minutes of stoppage time before the interval, and Mathieu Flamini tried his luck with a low, 20-yard strike which the West Ham keeper got down well to stop.

The hosts replaced Scott Parker, who looked to have picked up a knock, at the restart and were then quickly forced into another change when Anton Ferdinand hobbled off and Danny Gabbidon came on.

Van Persie came within inches of putting the visitors 2-0 ahead on 54 minutes.

The Dutchman sidestepped marker Gabbidon on the edge of the area, and drilled his shot towards the top left-hand corner.

Green was again at full stretch and got his fingertips to the ball, which this time bounced back off the post and away.

Moments later it should have been 1-1 after Bowyer chipped the ball into the area from the right. Ashton had timed his run perfectly to get a free header at the back post, only to then put it straight at a grateful Almunia.

This was a good spell for West Ham. Ljungberg did get the ball into the net when he collected Henri Camara's slide pass - but was flagged offside in what looked a marginal call.

Van Persie and Adebayor exchanged passes on the edge of the West Ham box, which sent the Togo striker clear and Green came to the rescue with a fine reaction save low to his left.

Arsenal full-back Gael Clichy was the next man to force a good save from Green, who was again at full stretch to turn the ball behind.

Van Persie booted a downward header from Ashton clear in front of his own net as the Gunners closed out the match - including four minutes of stoppage time - to stay ahead of the chasing pack.