Albatross

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
24 Oct	3:00 PM	P	West Ham United (A)	2	2	Draw

My aunt Susan works for the BBC and when we were arranging, in the week, to get together for a meal on Saturday evening she mentioned the possibility of getting press tickets for a film called Noone Knows About Persian Cats at the National Film Theatre on Sunday afternoon.

Now, I was dubious. I didn't know anything about this film, which was about the difficulties faced by young Iranians in making music in their home country, but I did know that it was going to make my chances of getting home to watch the Gunners in action very slim, despite Susan and her husband, Jo, telling me that I'd get home no trouble.

Anyway, reasoning that I probably wouldn't bother with it otherwise, I acquiesced in the end and, as a result, spent an hour and half absolutely captivated by this, in the words of the afternoon's "host" Colin Firth, "extraordinary" film.

Which is more than I can say for the football that I managed to watch when I got in.

Faced with a West Ham side on their knees, Arsenal didn't have to work too hard to get their noses in front, Robert Green managing to spill Bac Sagna's cross to the ever improving Robin van Persie's feet who duly tapped in his fifth league goal of the season, and fourth in a row. The lead was extended further by another goal from a centre back - William Gallas heading home van Persie's laser guided free kick as the first half drew to a close.

In the second half, Cesc went close with a long range effort, Arshavin went close but the third goal wouldn't come. It's funny, it's widely regarded in football that 2-0 is the worst kind of lead to have because it gives you a comfort zone that a 1-0 lead doesn't, but it can still be wiped out in an instant, as we saw at home to Tottenham last year, okay that was 4-2 but you know what I mean, and at Aston Villa - as I mentioned earlier in the week.

And as Zola made substitutions, West Ham began to raise the temperature and you could see control visibly slip from Arsenal's grasp to no response from the manager, a West Ham goal didn't so much become an inevitability, but a distinct possibility. It came from a familiar failing, the albatross around Arsenal's neck and their inability to deal with a set piece.

In this case, the young Italian Vito Mannone's misjudgement of substitute Diamanti's in-swinging free kick that saw him deflect the ball back into the danger zone, rather than away from goal, for Carlton Cole to head home. As Arsenal's players struggled to clear their heads, a Scott Parker run through the Arsenal defence might have brought a penalty - a decision that would have been harsh on William Gallas in my view, but perhaps that decision played a part in the penalty that was awarded just moments later.

Alex Song, harshly perhaps, was adjudged to have committed one of those silly little fouls he gives away in every match. This one was in the penalty area. And Diamanti duly dispatched the resulting spot kick to level a game that looked well beyond the Hammers. In response, Nicklas Bendtner arrived for the extraordinarily ineffective Eboue - about twenty minutes too late in my opinion.

I've been needing to say this for a while, but my problem with Eboue is simply what I saw in him last night. He can run at and beat players with ease, but that seems to be all he can do. He gets put into great positions and then plays an aimless, no look cross, he beats a player, gets into the danger zone and then slashes wastefully wide from ridiculous angles. I could forgive this if it was an exception to the rule, but he seems incapable of producing any quality on a consistent basis. And when you have players of the quality of Eduardo, Nasri and Bendtner sitting on the bench, it's painful to watch.

Scott Parker was, somewhat harshly, sent off which triggered the arrival of Eduardo with just minutes left. The one great chance we had left in us fell not to him though, van Persie's close range header looked a certain goal as Rob Green was going the other way. But, shades of Ben Foster a few weeks back, he managed to get a leg to it and deflect the ball away.

And that was that. Thomas Vermaelen said in the week that the last minute draw in Alkmaar felt like a defeat to the players, so I can only imagine what this one's done to us. I could understand it if West Ham had, pardon the expression, hammered us, but they didn't.

Okay, the manager can talk about the decisions on the freekick and the penalty, but they were just the by products of an Arsenal team who looked, to this observer's eye, like they thought they could coast through the second half of this game. Just five days later, compelling evidence that perhaps lessons have not been learnt. I said on Friday that a failure to take three points would be disappointing, in the context of the match it's gutting.

Maybe I'm being harsh and maybe it is just the fact that it was the same eleven who played in a tough Champions League game and so tiredness was a factor. But then, it was five days ago and surely we had the options on the bench to change it up a bit. Even if Nasri, Eduardo and Bendtner were not fit enough to start the game, would Ramsey for Diaby have affected us unduly? Vela for Eboue?

What's really irritating is the fact that, with United losing to Liverpool, a win yesterday and then a win next week would have put us top of the league - at least until Chelsea played, that chance has gone now. With the juniors certain to be in action in midweek, the first team squad have got a week to get their acts together before the cave dwellers make the short trip down the Seven Sisters Road, if we play like this next Saturday, I fear for us. Hopefully, Eduardo and Nasri will be able to make a difference.

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