Arsenal needed to pull out all the stops and rely on late goals to ensure they collected all three points in their game against West Ham at Upton Park on Sunday.

The win gave the Gunners a slender advantage as title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United slipped up in their respective games this weekend. Arsenal had lost ground to their rivals after their lackluster performance against Fulham.

William Gallas was back leading his young side after recovering from a thigh issue. Gallas appeared to lend solidity to the back four allowing his midfielders to play further up the field. But it was the Hammers who had the better of the initial exchanges keeping Mikael Silvestre and Gallas very busy during the first period.

David di Michele unleashed a 20-yard drive that forced a fine save from Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia within the first 10 minutes of the game. Fir the first 20 minutes, Arsenal’s midfield was hopelessly out of sync as Alexander Song and Cesc Fabregas seemed to be on different wavelengths.

After 20 minutes, Theo Walcott, who had been kept very quite until then, executed a beautiful play that involved turning two defenders and shooting from the edge of the box. The shot cannoned off Robert Green's bar. Green was forced to make a save when Walcott shot from close range after being put through by Robin Van Persie.

Just after the half-hour mark Craig Bellamy chased a long ball and managed to get ahead of Silvestre and drove in a low shot that caused Almunia to save with his legs. Things remained much the same after the break and Wenger replaced Nasri and Walcott with Adebayor and Abou Diaby.

On 75 minutes Adebayor unleashed a shot that caused Faubert to stick out a leg and it went into his own goal. Arsenal seemed to relax after this and they sealed the game after the Togo striker latched onto a Bendtner pass and scored in the dying minutes.