Arsenal crank up a gear

Arsenal may be on the march again but this time everyone will see them coming. Last season Arsene Wenger's team won the Premiership through a mixture of style and stealth; now their challenge will be silhouetted against the horizon.

A year ago a home win on St Stephen's Day saw them complete the first half of their league programme with 33 points. Saturday's victory over West Ham United at Highbury has left Arsenal a point worse off after 19 matches, but now they are only four behind the leaders compared to 13 last season.

Clearly Wenger's side are set to stay in the thick of what promises to be the closest race the Premiership has experienced in its short history. What remains to be seen is how well equipped Arsenal are for a contest which will demand qualities somewhat different from those which saw them deny Manchester United a hat-trick with an unbeaten run of 15 wins and three draws.

Whatever happens, nothing will persuade Wenger that a sustained challenge is on the way. As he pointed out on Saturday, all the Arsenal revival has amounted to so far is two home victories over Leeds and West Ham. "If we win five or six it could be different," he added but for that to happen his attack will have to start taking a higher proportion of its chances.

The way Arsenal began against West Ham was strongly reminiscent of their visit to Blackburn Rovers last Easter Monday when a cannonade of three goals in 14 minutes ended any lingering doubts about their championship potential. Except that this time an early goal turned out to be the only goal in a performance which petered out after half-time.

The return to form and fitness of Dennis Bergkamp and the response this has drawn from his Dutch compatriot Marc Overmars has provided the spark to rekindle Arsenal's latest championship aspirations. When Overmars accepted a first-time pass from Ray Parlour before cutting inside past Steve Potts and Trevor Sinclair to drive the ball in at the near post after seven minutes their supporters hugged themselves in anticipation of a substantial victory.

That it turned out to be nothing of the kind was partly due to a series of saves from Shaka Hislop, who had been slightly at fault with the goal, combined with further reminders of Rio Ferdinand's excellence. But Arsenal's profligacy was equally responsible. A solitary goal was a poor return for 30 shots with 10 on target.

The victory would surely have been more substantial had Nicolas Anelka not been forced off with an ankle injury on the half-hour. Bergkamp's scalpel was busy, Overmars was tormenting Sinclair and the dominance in midfield of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit was absolute, but the speed and vision of Anelka lay at the heart of West Ham's discomfort and, when he was forced to give way to Christopher Wreh, it was like replacing strip lighting with a 40-watt bulb.

Wreh proved a competent replacement for the injured Bergkamp as Arsenal completed the Double but, whereas Anelka looks to get behind defenders, the Liberian wants the ball played to his feet and on Saturday this introduced a flat note to what had been an exhilarating rhythm.

The disruption of that rhythm also allowed West Ham to burrow back into the game in the second half and though Arsenal's slender lead survived, they had to endure a frantic closing 10 minutes.

"Will you go out and buy?" he was asked. "I may go out tonight," he smiled. But it might not be a bad idea for Arsenal to check out the January sales all the same.

ARSENAL: Manninger, Dixon, Vieira, Bould, Vivas, Anelka (Wreh 30), Bergkamp, Overmars, Keown, Parlour, Petit, Wreh (Grimandi 76). Subs Not Used: Winterburn, Boa Morte, Lukic. Booked: Vivas. Goals: Overmars 7.

WEST HAM: Hislop, Potts, Keller (Lazaridis 64), Sinclair, Hartson, Lomas, Wright, Ferdinand, Lampard, Pearce, Berkovic. Subs Not Used: Breacker, Forrest, Omoyimni, Margas. Booked: Keller, Lazaridis. Att: 38,098.

Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).