Off-topic: Arsenal 2 West Ham 0 - Not this time, Curbishley

90 seconds into the match, Eduardo had demonstrated why he deserves a starting place in the Arsenal 11. He had also all-but sealed West Ham's fate. West Ham, the only team to beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, never looked like winning today. Instead, it was just a matter of how badly they were going to lose.

As it turned out, West Ham managed to lose by only two goals, both of them brilliantly taken by Eduardo (off a wonder-pass from Fabregas, man of the match for me) and Adebayor (deftly headed past West Ham's goalkeeper, Green, to put the ball in at an impossible angle). The scoreline could have looked much worse. Arsenal didn't lack for attempts, but it did fritter away a goalscoring opportunity or two with passes that should have been shots (Hleb's pass to Rosicky in the final 15 minutes being a case in point).

Overall, however, there was not much to dislike about Arsenal's performance. Walcott came on for Eduardo (not sure why) and lit up the pitch every time he touched the ball. Rosicky was strong and great off the ball, while Fabregas captained the movement from the center, as usual. As for Arsenal's back line, except for a few errors from Hoyte, which is to be expected given his absence from the pitch for awhile, they looked solid, even on set pieces, which is an improvement.

In fact, on that note, I watched AC Milan's December derby against Inter Milan the other day. AC Milan seemed to put the ball into the air on crosses and over the top from midfield on virtually every attack. This will sorely test Arsenal's resolve at the back. But I believe we can pull it through.

Elsewhere, Manchester United scraped a 1-0 victory over Birmingham and Chelsea were fortunate to pull out a 1-2 victory over Fulham. Chelsea have looked so depleted on the pitch that it's a wonder they manage to win at all, but I suppose this is a sign of their quality: even when they're rubbish, they still manage to win most of the time.