A victory would not have come as an almighty shock given West Ham have beaten Tottenham and Manchester United on home turf this season, but Arsenal were in control throughout, winning by three and coming close on numerous occasions to add to their tally.
Victory reasserts the visitors' title-winning credentials but the story of this match was always going to be Grant, who woke to stories that, regardless of what took place here, he was going to be sacked as manager by the end of the weekend, a hardly surprising outcome given the club's inability to climb out of the relegation zone and the subsequent whispering campaign that has continued to undermine the former Portsmouth manager. The loss of Scott Parker to an ankle injury was a serious blow for Grant ahead of this difficult and potentially pivotal encounter. Robert Kovac came in for the midfielder with the brief of protecting West Ham's defence from the forward runs of Cesc Fábregas and Jack Wilshere.
But the visitors are a threat from other areas and proved as much on 13 minutes by taking the lead through Robin Van Persie. It was a simple but impressive goal, with Theo Walcott playing a square pass into the area that Samir Nasri stepped over and the Dutchman swept the ball past Robert Green and into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
Arsenal would have taken comfort as well as delight from the goal. After all, they came into this fixture having won only one of their past five matches, the last of which was Wednesday's 1–0 defeat at Ipswich. For Van Persie, it was also a third goal of yet another injury-disrupted season.
Arsène Wenger's men came close to doubling their lead five minutes later when Fábregas played a precise pass into the path of Walcott, who held off a challenge from James Tomkins but could only fire a tame shot at Green. The mood quickly darkened among the home supporters and even more so when Mark Noble was substituted with an apparent injury soon after and replaced by Luís Boa Morte.
But the Portugese had an almost immediate impact on proceedings when he charged into the area on 21 minutes and created enough space for Zavon Hines to hit a shot at goal that went narrowly over. The youngster should have done better, something that could also be said of Carlton Cole who had found himself one-on-one with Wojciech Szczesny but hit a side-footed drive straight at the Arsenal goalkeeper.
The hosts were almost made to pay for such wastefulness on 31 minutes when another wonderful sweeping move from Arsenal that involved quick passes from Wilshere and Nasri ended with Van Persie hitting a left-footed shot on to the post.
West Ham were now consistently failing to cope with the visitor's quick passing and it came as little surprise when Walcott made it 2–0 five minutes before half-time, side-footing Van Persie's cross into the net, having been played onside by Wayne Bridge, making his West Ham debut.
Cue jubilation from the away supporters, chanting at Grant: "You're getting sacked in an hour." His cause would have been helped had Cole done better with Freddie Sears's precise cross instead of heading it straight on to Emmanuel Eboué.
Cole is the only player in the West Ham squad who has scored against Arsenal but he looked increasingly unlikely to do so again. How Grant would have liked to have had the option of calling on the slightly more potent Frédéric Piquionne, but the French forward has returned to his homeland to have treatment on a wisdom tooth that he believes is the root cause of lingering hamstring pains.
So instead Cole continued into the second-half playing as a lone attacker and, again, was having little impact on the match. In fairness, he was bereft of support from a flat and uncoordinated midfield from where only Sears offered a threat. It was surprising, then, to see the 21-year-old substituted on 61 minutes and replaced by the Mexican Pablo Barrera.
For their part, Arsenal appeared content with a 2–0 lead and were making little effort to turn a comfortable lead into a rout. Nevertheless, Wenger's side continued to catch the eye, no one more so than Wilshere, who was continuing to combine ruggedness with panache in a manner that betrayed his tender age. The 19-year-old, it should also be remembered, was playing against the team he supported as a boy.
The visitors did, however, find enough thrust to score a third when Walcott stormed into the area before being tripped by Bridge, whose torrid debut culminated with the full-back being substituted with an injury late on. Van Persie converted the subsequent penalty and soon after the locals began to disperse. Those that remained would have seen Grant thrown his supposedly lucky claret and blue scarf into the crowd. He is unlikely to wear such an item of clothing ever again.
Source: Sachin Nakrani, The Guardian on 15 Jan 11
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