At one point, at two or three up, West Brom had an attack and the likes of Gervinho, Song, Arteta and many more players were sprinting after the West Brom players, preventing them from having time on the ball. What is even better is that this hard work came against a team that many of the

I really enjoyed that win today, so much so that I thought I would quickly jot down a few thoughts. A type of pre-post match thoughts if you will.

The victory at Chelsea has obviously helped with the confidence levels and that was there for all to see, especially in the second half.

The Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen duo was just as formidable as I remembered they were. Aggressive, pro active and cultured. They were perched high up the field and pushed West Brom into the sea of red and white shirts. West Brom tried to play early balls into the channels and over the heads of our center backs but they were thwarted time and time again. These two have to be our first choice pairing when fit in most games.

Mikel Arteta has played a lot of football of late but he looked anything but tired as he gracefully floated around the pitch, linking up the play, making those around him tick. Always available for the pass, switches the play with ease and his goal was wonderfully taken. Arsene could not have described him any better when he stated that he brings the team technical security.

Carl Jenkinson looks like a player who is now starting to believe in himself, starting to relax and not worry about what 60 thousand people are thinking of him.

But what was better than any individual performance and there were many out there, was the work and fight the team had when not on the ball. This has beaten Arsenal more than most opposition teams in the last few years. This fixture last season is the perfect example. This afternoon, the work from every single player in red and white was just exceptional and it made me very proud.

At one point, at two or three up, West Brom had an attack and the likes of Gervinho, Song, Arteta and many more players were sprinting after the West Brom players, preventing them from having time on the ball. What is even better is that this hard work came against a team that many of the Arsenal players would expect to beat and that puts us in good stead.

If that work rate continues every single week along with the quality of  van Persie, Arteta, Song, Ramsey and co then this team will go very far.

The attitude of this team has already surpassed the squad of last season and that is good enough for me.

19 points from 11 games. Level on points with big spending Liverpool and also Tottenham who still have two games in hand. We have some big players still to return to the squad, so perhaps we can throw the crisis tag in the bin once and for all.

Onwards and upwards.