Match Review: Arsenal 0-1 West Ham

Same old story. It's frankly getting quite boring. "Arsenal create several chances but are denied by poor finishing and sublime goalkeeping." So the unbeaten home record has gone. Great. Just what we needed. A real confidence booster, eh?

But this is the thing, putting last week at Anfield aside, I can't think of many, if any, bad performances this season, we just haven't had Lady Luck on our side. And this encounter was a perfect example of it. It took just 90 seconds for the first chance to come. Tomas Rosicky flicked a ball through and sent Fabregas one-on-one with Robert Green. The Spaniard picked his spot but was denied by the legs of the West Ham keeper. Just minutes later, Emmanuel Adebayor raced down the left flank, cut inside and fired a shot on goal, only for Green to save well. Then another stunning pass from Rosicky sent Ljungberg through. He just had Green to beat but he panicked and released a poor effort that was easily saved by the England shot-stopper. This was followed by more magical stuff from the home side, looking a completely different team to that of last week. Eboue and Hleb exchanged passes down the right, and the latter fired in a low cross for Rosicky. The Czech International saw his shot whistle inches wide of the post and you could tell that The Gunners were in for another frustrating day. On the half-hour, the impressive Rosicky fired a shot in from distance, but his strike was saved brilliantly by Green. Then on the counter-attack, Tevez was away. The Argentine cut inside well but fired a tame shot straight at Lehmann. Then in first half injury time, Lucas Neill played a long ball forward from the back. Kolo Toure was in no man's land and Bobby Zamora advanced on goal and lofted a sublime shot over the on-rushing Lehmann, and into the back of the net. Emirates Stadium was in shock. There was suspicions of offside but the goal stood. And as the half time whistle blew seconds later, the faces on the Arsenal players said it all.

In the second period, Arsenal were still dominating. Gilberto fired in an impressive strike but Robert Green produced a magnificent save, as he got down to palm to Brazilian's effort away. But a few minutes later, the former Norwich keeper produced another unbelievable save, but this will go down as one of the best ever. A Fabregas free kick was swept in, and Adebayor was unmarked from 6 yards out. The Togo striker thumped a great header on target, it was a certain goal. But Green did the impossible. He somehow managed to thrust out a hand and divert the ball over the bar. It was a simply magical instinctive save, worthy of keeping West Ham in the Premiership. The Gunners must have wondered what they had to do to beat him. But then, Green was beaten. Fabregas unleased a stupendous effort from 30 yards, but the frame of the goal saved The Hammers. It deserved to be a goal, and especially due to Arsenal's dominance, the crossbar was still shaking. Five minutes from the end, Gilberto slipped a shot past Green but the post came the the visitor's rescue again. It was simply unbelievable. How did we not score. It is almost impossible. We had endless chances but none were converted. But in injury time, West Ham nearly made it two. Subsitute, and former gooner, Luis Boa Morte, clipped the ball over Lehman but saw it fly past the goal and out of play. If that had gone in, it would have been more than unfair on Arsene Wenger's side.

But it already was unfair. Arsenal had dominated and kept banging on the door, but couldn't find the net. But then again, I put my hands up to admire a goalkeeping master class from Rob Green. In my opinion, he should be in strong contention for the England No.1 jersey. He was simply brilliant and had ended Arsenal's unbeaten run at their new home. A few weeks ago, we were stating that we could get 2nd, now we might not even get 4th. With a win at Wigan, Bolton are breathing down our necks, so next weekend's clash could prove vital. But next up is Newcastle on Monday. Another difficult trip, but let's hope we can finally get a win.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Robert Green