Gunners in groove, raves Walcott

ARSENE WENGER has always maintained that his Arsenal side have the belief to win the Premier League title this season and they proved their credentials on Saturday by cruising to victory over West Ham.

The north London club have failed to win a trophy since 2005 and many critics had questioned why Wenger would not dip into the transfer market last summer and bring in some big name players to help them win major silverware again.

Arsenal supporters had every reason to fear yet another year would go by without a trophy after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Leeds in the FA Cup third round last week and then suffered a shock Carling Cup defeat against Ipswich in the semi-final first leg last week just four days later.

But write off Arsenal at your peril as Wenger’s team showed they have the character to bounce back and quickly diminished any thoughts that their season would go off the rails as they easily came away with the three points to maintain their position at the top end of the table.

The manner of the victory was even more impressive as Arsenal never really got out of second gear and played at times like it was a practice match.

That is a worrying prospect for their title contenders and there is still so much more to come from Wenger’s side.

Robin van Persie was the main man with two goals and looks to have finally put all his injury problems behind him. Captain Cesc Fabregas ran the show in midfield and seems to have forgotten all the summer speculation linking him with a move back to Barcelona.

Add to that the impressive form shown by Samir Nasri, while Theo Walcott was outstanding down the right and gave Wayne Bridge a nightmare on his debut for West Ham.

Walcott has no doubts that Arsenal mean business this season and feels they have the best attacking force in the country.

Walcott said: “We were not mentally right in the last two matches, but that’s out of the way now and in the past. That’s not the Arsenal we know. No disrespect to Leeds and Ipswich and their ranking, but we should be getting better results.

“This was the real Arsenal though. We’re learning from each other, we’ve had so much experience playing together for the past few years and it’s paying off. But we’ve got to turn that into silverware. This could turn into a great year for us. We’ve played Chelsea twice, Manchester City twice and we’ve got a good run-in.

“The mood’s great, we’re enjoying it and we’re enjoying playing together. The likes of Tottenham have got a very good forward line as well. But playing for this team, I believe we’ve got the strongest. We’ve got different options as well. Everyone is different and that’s the great thing with this Arsenal team.”

One of the key factors for Arsenal maintaining their challenge is the fitness of Van Persie. The Dutch striker netted his 50th Premier League goal against West Ham on Saturday and looks to be back to his best.

The Arsenal striker opened the scoring on 13 minutes with a clinical finish before turning provider for Walcott to add a second just before half-time. Van Persie completed the rout on 77 minutes from the penalty spot after Walcott was brought down by Bridge.

It was only two seasons ago that Van Persie scored 20 goals for the club and Walcott knows the value of keeping him fit for the remainder of the season.

Walcott added: “Robin van Persie is so important to us. It’s great to have his presence up front. I love playing with him. It’s a great asset for us, he’s scoring goals, back fully fit and is on a nice run because he’s fully fit again.”

West Ham’s under-fire manager Avram Grant can only dream of having a player like Van Persie in his attack to help them move away from the foot of the table.

Grant’s position is under threat once again following another hefty defeat and he was placed under immense pressure in the build-up to the match as rumours circulated that he would be sacked after the game and would be replaced by Martin O’Neill.

Why O’Neill would choose to join a club who look to be heading for the Championship is another question, as the east London club lack the quality to compete in the top flight.

Grant gave the strongest indication yet that he would be leaving the club when he threw his lucky scarf into the crowd at the final whistle and appeared to say his goodbye to the supporters. The Israeli coach has remained dignified throughout the latest shambles to surround West Ham and is refusing to hand in his resignation. Grant said: “I had two choices, and chose to focus on the football. Of course rumours on the day of a game do not help. I still want to focus on the thing I can control, and this is the team.

“I prefer to talk about football rather than answer questions about other things around, especially when I am not the man you need to be asking.’’

West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan have refused to back the manager they appointed last summer and it appears they are just waiting for O’Neill to say yes before they tell Grant to start packing his bags.