West Ham 0-3 Arsenal: Keep calm and carry on

Well, that was better. Arsenal came out with all guns firing and utterly dominated West Ham at Upton Park, who looked well worth their spot at the bottom of the Premier League table. The Gunners managed three goals, and honestly the final scoreline did not flatter the away team's form.

In recent weeks Arsenal have not performed to the level they should against lesser competition - not even lower level but lower league, as both Leeds (1-1 at home in the FA Cup) and Ipswich (1-0 loss away in the Carling Cup) outplayed them. That was not the case against West Ham, as Arsenal dominated play essentially from kickoff to whistle.

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Here are some stats from Orbinho to back that up:

HT Stats West Ham v Arsenal Shots 5-12 On target 2-7 Fouls 5-2 Duels Won % 47%-53% Passing Accuracy 62%-80% Possession 33%-67%

FT Stats West Ham v Arsenal Shots 9-21 On target 3-11 Fouls 9-8 Duels Won % 45%-55% Passing Accuracy 67%-85% Possession 30%-70%

As you can see, Arsenal utterly dominated play in the first half (for example, Fabregas had more first-half touches than the whole of West Ham's midfield), and if anything they ramped that up in the second. This may have in part been related to last year - in this same fixture Arsenal led 2-0 at the half, like this year, but they allowed two in the second half to end up drawing. Arsene Wenger said after the game that last year came up in the halftime team talk - in fact, he said that Cesc was the one to bring it up - and they avoided a repeat of that debacle.

Beyond everything else they were able to keep from overreacting. After a few lackluster games in a row, Arsenal could have freaked out and overplayed. They didn't do that - they kept calm and played their game, and it led to domination. That was important, because it shows the maturity that Wenger talks about in the above video. It's maturity that Arsenal has lacked in recent years, with a young team and poor veteran leadership for the most part (I'm looking at you, William Gallas). And it's maturity that will lead them to the title, if they get there.

The domination would not have mattered if not for the games that Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott. They combined for all three Arsenal goals:

1. Walcott low cross into box, dummied by Nasri and received by van Persie, shot for a goal.

2. Clichy breaks offside trap with pass to van Persie, who dribbles to end line and passes into box to Walcott, who bangs it home.

3. Walcott takes ball into box and is fouled by Wayne Bridge (who played a part in all three goals as well); van Persie converts the penalty.

Both players are coming off injuries earlier this year. Walcott was in incredible form before the injury, and is only just now starting to find it again. Everyone knows van Persie is insanely talented, but he's frequently injured and as such has found it hard to influence proceedings as much as he should. If both can get healthy and start producing (particularly van Persie), Arsenal will become a much more dangerous team on the offensive end.

All in all, a good return to form for Arsenal - an important performance and result both in the Premier League campaign and before the FA Cup replay this week.