The little pocket sized Russian Arshavin who originally didn’t seem to know that he was on set piece duty, jogged over to take it ‘That makes sense, he will be hardly any use in the box would he?’

At long last the goalscoring hoodoo has been well and truly broken, in truth it could have been broken just a little further but it is times like these when the amount of goals is almost irrelevant, today was about resetting the mentality of the players and more importantly adding a much needed 3 points to our points tally.

I was a little taken aback by the starting line up, Van Persie and Vela left out of the side to catch a breather.

Alex Song also replaced Abou Diaby in the starting line up. interestingly Arsene Wenger moved Arshavin into the hole behind Bendtner which is a clear sign of the managers approval of the Russians vision and link play.

A nice early goal was what the doctor ordered, Denilson squared a ball to Bendtner who was in the right hand channel, a position he has been used to of late, so it might have given him the confidence to swerve inside and hit a left foot shot spinning into the far corner. At last we have witnessed some more of the talent that the young Dane has tucked up inside him.

At long last the side can settle down and shift through the gears but as I said in the pre match talk, it wouldn’t surprise me to see us concede in the same game as we finally score. Typically, it happened only a few minutes later.

West Brom were awarded a freekick outside the area after Djourou tripped Luke Moore. Chris Brunt drilled a low skidding effort in between Eboue and Alex Song who forgot that walls are supposed to be made of strong stuff and the ball flew inside Almunia’s left post. 1-1. The wall broke far too easily and the players will need to do better in that position in future.

The score line was annoying but that wasn’t the major problem as far I was concerned, West Brom were taking advice from Fulham and taking us on at our own game. They passed with purpose and matched us in many areas of the pitch during that period. They obviously took great confidence in their goal and stroked the ball around well. The next goal was going to be crucial in where the game was heading.

Bendtner blasted high and not so handsome in the 14th, Eboue’s miscued shot found its way to Bendtner who was coming back from an offside position. but it didn’t matter as he didn’t control his effort. Luke Moore had a shot on the turn, well handled by Almunia. Eboue blasted over a half chance after a Clichy cross. Arshavin fired wide on his left after good quick passing.

Arsenal were awarded a freekick on the left flank after James Morrison who was having a good game for West Brom brought down Clichy who was making speedy progress up the touchline.

The little pocket sized Russian Arshavin who originally didn’t seem to know that he was on set piece duty, jogged over to take it ‘That makes sense, he will be hardly any use in the box would he?’ I said to a mate. Arshavin dinked a floated pass into an area at the near post where Toure and Djourou ran to, Toure got there first and headed against himself and into the net. GET IN! They all count, great movement from the Arsenal players and a great delivery from Arshavin.

Arsenal started to slowly get a strangle hold on the game and the passing became crisper and sharper.

The best was saved till last, Toure floated one of his long range chipped passes into Bendtner who spun away from his marker and into the right channel. Bendtner took it on his thigh, let it run across him and hooked it perfectly into the far corner. Dennis Bendtner!! What a goal.

Just before half time, Arsenal were looking comfortable and cruising. I bet Wenger hasn’t felt so relaxed at half time for some time.

A forced change was made upon Wenger at half time, Kolo Toure picking up a slight strain, so Abou Diaby came on which allowed Alex Song to slot in alongside Djourou in defence.

Another positive mention must go to Denilson who broke up a lot of the good work made by West Brom but he was more than that, he was the platform for many Arsenal attacks.

It was Denilson who started the next clear Arsenal chance of the game. The Brazilian won the ball inside the West Brom half his pass found Bendtner who drove toward goal, he had the awareness to know where Arshavin was lurking and he flicked it to Arshavin who took a touch in the box and fired at Carson who parried well.

Minutes later, Arshavin received another Bendtner pass inside the area and his near goal shot dribbled wide of the far corner.

Abou Diaby got in on the act moments later, he drove through the middle, served inside and outside and unleashed a powerful shot that was deflected over by Meite.

Bendtner almost claimed a deserved hat trick after skating through tackles and unleashing a powerful left foot strike that smacked against the base of the post and away to safety.

The Arsenal away support was just amazing, almost as if they were fighting to protect the name ‘Arsenal supporter’ I have to say I felt slightly emotional for Nik Bendtner, the crowd were singing his name and you could see the confidence from the goals and support running through his body. The players need that, that is our duty as supporters. If we are Arsenal supporters then we want the best from our players and to get the best they need positive confidence.

You could see that he was a different player to the one that was struggling to trap the ball at the Emirates, that should be enough to convince people that they probably are not doing enough for the team, unfortunately I am not sure it will, at least not for the short term.

What is guaranteed is that the crowd will find their voices more often if the team can continue to progress and score goals like they did tonight.

Eboue made way for youngster Aaron Ramsey in the 66th minute.

West Brom almost got back into the match with two chances. Firstly Koren had a strike well handled by Almunia and Fortune was not so fortunate when he dragged his shot wide, his strike partner Luke Moore would not have been happy screaming for it in an unmarked central position.

Aaron Ramsey showed a little bit of inexperience by almost getting a backpass horribly wrong. Ramsey attempted a long range pass back on his left and weaker aide but Almunia who had yet another fine game ran out to block a challenge from Moore, The Spanglish one picked up a knock for his troubles, he managed to fight through the pain barrier and get through the game.

A word on Arshavin, he missed a few chances tonight and many things are not quite there but it is not far away from all coming together. He was probably our most creative player for the third game running and that says plenty about a player who is a) unfit b) playing in a new league and c) adapting to a new country. I have no doubts that we will see massive things from him next season and glimpses in the next few months of what is to come.

Arshavin was still very much knocking on the West Brom goal. Ramsey made up his for earlier bad pass with a fantastic through ball to the speedy Arshavin who cut inside his man and unleashed a right footed shot that was saved by Carson.

There was one run in the second half from Niklas Bendtner which brought back great memories of Thierry Henry. Bendtner received the ball in the left back position and he bounced towards the defenders before spinning past his markers, he tried to cut inside two, his run was cut short by West Brom.

That proved to be the last real action of the game, Arsenal back on track at last.

3 points behind Aston Villa, hopefully with them looking over their shoulder at us it could install some much needed fear to their football. Before we scored our second goal, West Brom were blasting out their version of ‘Champions League you’re havin a laugh’

By Full time, I would imagine that Martin O’Neill and his players will think it is no laughing matter.