Arsenal:
                       Lehmann
Gilbert (Flamini 27) Djourou Campbell (Larsson 45) Senderos
       Ljungberg Gilberto Diaby (Bergkamp 71) Pires
                Henry  van Persie

Kerrea Gilbert received treatment early on after a clash, and had to go off with a back problem just after halfway through the first half. The extent of the injury isn't clear yet, but he's certainly not likely to be back for the weekend. That leaves us with our six first-choice full-backs out of action: 4 injured and 2 in Africa. Seven if you count Pascal Cygan. Is it time to bring Justin Hoyte back from Sunderland?
Gilbert was replaced by Mathieu Flamini, who I'm sad to say looked well out of place at right back. There weren't really any alternatives though.

We'd started the game well and the Irons were under the cosh for the first 20 minutes or so. Thierry Henry's free kick wasn't far off after a minute or so. A few minutes later Abou Diaby's run forward found him at the goal-line and he cut back nicely for Henry, whose goalbound shot was deflected wide off of Freddie Ljungberg who couldn't get out of the way in time. And soon after that Robin van Persie did really well to make space for a shot from a narrow angle, but it cannoned out off the outside of the near post.

West Ham started to come into the game a bit more, but without really threatening.

On 20 minutes Freddie's chip over the defence nearly got to van Persie but Anton Ferdinand was alert enough to get there first and clear. West Ham took the ball up the other end and Benayoun had a weak shot from the edge of the box which was an easy take for Jens Lehmann. It was their first shot of the game and, I think, the only one that didn't go in!

Their second shot came not long after. Etherington popped a ball forward for Reo-Coker but Sol Campbell was on hand to deal with it. Should have been, anyway. He got a touch on the ball as Reo-Coker played it past him, but not enough of a touch and the ball fell nicely for Reo-Coker to charge past Sol with it. One-on-one against Lehmann, the visiting captain finished it well.

We had half a shout for a penalty when Konchesky appeared to handle a cross into the box from our left, then Gilbert was forced off.

Straight after that, they got their second and again it came after a weak challenge from Campbell. Credit to Bobby Zamora though, who took a diagonal ball forward on his chest, shrugged off Sol's challenge as he cut back, leaving the defender on the ground, and then placed his shot inside the far post.

Arsenal were rocked initially, but came back into things towards the end of the half with an encouraging amount of drive. A goalmouth scramble, after another ball into the box from Diaby, saw both Henry and van Persie have shots cleared from the goalmouth. Then with seconds to go before the 45 minutes were up, we clawed one back. Freddie had the ball on the right and tried to bring it into the box only to be tackled. It came back further right to van Persie who went for goial from a narrow angle and got it on target. The ball was cleared off the line I think by Ferdinand, but fell to Robert Pires whose nicely struck low shot was touched in by Henry. The announcer gave it to Pires but soon enough the error was realised and Henry was credited with his 151st league goal for the club: a new club record.

We started the second half well too, but without Sol Campbell who'd been replaced by Sebastian Larsson, another midfielder but one with a bit more experience of playing at full-back (and it showed). Arsenal's back 4 now had an average age of less than 21. There's been much talk of Campbell storming out of the ground at half-time, but Wenger has said that he had to be subbed because he was unhappy with his own performance and looked like he wasn't up for it in the second half, and that Sol's departure was in no way disrespectful towards his teammates. But it can only be bad news for Sol, who hasn't really been himself on the field often enough this season. Making a couple of crucial errors and being unable to recover from them is hardly going to enhance the watching England coach's confidence in him.

Pires and Ljungberg looked like they might have rediscovered their interest in scoring. Pires' rising drive kept on rising a bit too much, then Freddie got to the goalline and forced a near post save from Hislop. Then Henry won a free kick just outside the box on the right and let van Persie take it - he hit it well but a defender managed to catch the ball with his heel as he stretched his leg out behind him, and deflected it narrowly wide of the far post.

Henry did well to make room for a shot near the goal-line on the left, but curled it across goal and inches wide of the far post, with Freddie coming in at that post just a tad too late.

Wenger replaced Diaby with :Dennis-Bergkamp: which seemed a little strange to me, given that Diaby was looking dangerous going forward. And with 11 minutes to go, Reo-Coker was on hand to pounce on the ball after a defensive mix-up between Senderos and Larsson (I think it was the latter who failed to trap a short pass and allowed the ball to roll through for Reo-Coker, but to be fair Larsson did pretty well at left back and going forward in particular looked more of a threat than most who've tried that position while Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy have been out). Anyway, Reo-Coker crossed to the far side of the box where 3 defenders had drifted into the space right in front of goal but no-one had picked up Matthew Etherington. His shot may have gone in anyway, but picked up a big deflection off of Johan Djourou and all Pires' desperate goal-line lunge could do was help the ball into the net.

We kept at them. Henry did a flick up and overhead kick on the left hand side of the box which only just missed the far post, then Pires came close with a shot.

With a minute to go, the ball was floated from left to right where it found Bergkamp in the box and he struck a terrific volley which Hislop could only block. It rebounded to Pires at pace and he returned it similarly, leaving the keeper no chance. But there just wasn't enough time to get the equaliser we deserved.

Well done to David Bentley, who celebrated his permanent move to Blackburn Rovers with a hattrick in their 4-3 win over Manchester United. Still don't think we'll regret his leaving too much, though.

With Chelsea and Liverpool both dropping points too, tonight was very much a missed opportunity. We've slipped to 6th a point behind behind Wigan, but still with a game in hand over both them and Tottenham (4 points ahead in 4th). But with both Bolton and Blackburn on the same points as us, it's going to be a long struggle for 4th place for the rest of the season, unless we pull our finger out very soon.