Gunners finding range

AS Arsene Wenger relaxed into his seat with this game in its death throes, it was easy to remember that it has been a long time since the Arsenal manager appeared so relaxed.

It used to be that the club’s fans would arrive in north London simply wondering how many their side were going to win by, as the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp went about demonstrating their innate superiority.

Yet this season the script has been rather different. A woeful start, a late influx of new players, but finally there is a team and a run of form befitting this club and their manager. Nine wins out of 11 games in all competitions is not to be sniffed at, and this was the sort of facile victory that used to be routine.

In truth there is only one player in the current generation who would get into that side, and Robin van Persie did little to disprove the notion that this is a one-man team as he scored the opener before setting up Thomas Vermaelen and Mike Arteta for the goals that brushed aside a weak challenge from West Brom.

But the shoots of recovery that have been there for a month or so are now blooming. Vermaelen’s return is vital; Aaron Ramsey is blossoming; Wojciech Szczesny is commanding.

Those painful, difficult days of August cannot be forgotten, though, and nor should they.

As Arteta admits, the pressure to succeed after that nightmare spell — none more so than the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford which launched the spending spree that saw the former Everton man, along with Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos arrive — has spurred Arsenal on, and brought them back towards, if not their best, then a passable imitation.

“The confidence is high. We’re much better than we were two months ago and we need to keep that going now,” said the Spaniard after his first goal at the Emirates.

“We’ve been under a lot of pressure to win games, we’ve needed results. “We’ve just tried to do the best we can and we’ve been on a great run for the last two months.

“There’s a still lot to do. We can still improve as a team in many areas. We’ve just tried to get by and now we’re really improving a lot.”

Yet does Wenger still fear those dark days of August? Back then he downplayed the extent of his side’s poverty; now he insists they are not as blessed as has been suggested.

“I’m always a little bit concerned that the ghosts we had to fight one month ago will come back,” he admitted.

“We are not yet on a completely different planet. Until then we have still to fight against it. Every win makes us stronger.’’

Yet with van Persie available, his side look a decent outfit. The Dutchman once again proved his worth here.

Firstly, he was alert enough to score a real poacher’s goal, knocking in the rebound after Theo Walcott’s shot had been well saved by Ben Foster.

Then he retrieved a long cross at the far post and squared for Vermaelen to fire home his first goal since February 2010.

With the game at a lull, it was simply a question of whether Arsenal could rouse themselves to score a third.

They could, van Persie exchanging passes with Tomas Rosicky before laying the ball back for Arteta to provide the most prominent memory of the afternoon. It was easy work, as Roy Hodgson, West Brom’s boss, conceded.

“When you have two players like (Peter) Odenwingie and (Shane) Long, when they’re not playing you do miss them,” said Hodgson, who is likely to lose coach Michael Appleton this week, with the former Manchester United midfielder thought set to take over at Portsmouth.

“Not many people can replace two players who are that good.”

Hodgson was right. Arsenal know they cannot do without van Persie, either. But on comfortable, simple days such as Saturday, the doomsday scenario is one they do not have to contemplate.