Another game of 2 halves. Arsenal had the better of the first half, and went ahead on 12 minutes when Robert Pires latched onto a poor backpass - his first premiership goal coming just 4 days after his first Arsenal goal. Hislop had no chance - it was very similar to Tuesday's equaliser

The lead was doubled, again largely thanks to West Ham's defence, when Rio Ferdinand headed a Silvinho cross into his own goal less than 10 minutes later. So we went in at halftime 2 up, but it should really have been double that (which, it has to be said, is still Man Utd's advantage over us, and the reason they're top and we're not).

West Ham had a better second half, and there were chances at both ends. Pearce gave the Irons a lifeline on the hour from a free-kick (thanks in part to Paolo Di Canio confusing the issue), after which Arsenal had a goal disallowed for offside and Davor Suker missed a golden chance to equalise.

But Arsenal hung on for the 3 points, staying on the shoulder of Man Utd who beat Leeds 3-0 this morning. West Ham may be having a bad season, but this still has to count as one of the hardest away games of the season, and hence an excellent result.

Full reports to follow, see match reports page now for a list of links to reports on other sites..