Arsenal 1 West Ham 0:WHILE IT may be too early to consider seriously either the possibility of Arsenal winning the Premier League or the likelihood of West Ham United staying in it, the unexpectedly close encounter on Saturday added some weight to both propositions.

Arsenal, although below their best, showed the hunger they will need to maintain if they are to keep Chelsea in sight at the top and West Ham the organisation and resilience which will eventually take them off the bottom provided they can produce these qualities in the less glamorous fixtures.

For the moment, the ambitions of each are trapped by statistics. Arsenal are still running to stand still, five points behind Chelsea, and West Ham, now three below the 19th-placed Wolves, remain in danger of being cast adrift.

A scoreless draw, which would have brought West Ham a glimmer of hope and left their opponents in a shadow of doubt, seemed likely until Alex Song met Gael Clichy’s cross in the 88th minute with a diving header at the far post.

The performance, which picked up after a sluggish start, bore signs of the maturity that should maintain the strength of the team’s challenge in both the Premier League and the Champions League. This week’s trek to Ukraine to play Shakhtar Donetsk, when they may be missing Cesc Fabregas with a hamstring strain, was probably the reason why it took Arsenal a while to get out of second gear but once they had upped the pace the relentless pressure they applied was impressive.

The winning goal was partly down to West Ham manager Avram Grant bringing on Julien Faubert in the 87th minute when West Ham were under a particularly heavy siege.

The Frenchman was too slow getting across to close down Clichy and Song did the rest. As foot-shooting goes this substitution would have won a prize at Bisley.

Champions League Watch

Shakhtar Donetsk host Arsenal on Wednesday and won away on Saturday, beating Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 1-0.