Arsenal (2) – (0) West Ham United
Denilson (5′), Fabregas (82′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

After 5 minutes, some smart interplay between Denilson and Bendtner resulted in the little Brazilian scoring a neatly taken goal, slotting the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Then Arsenal were cruising.

Just before half-time, Arsenal conceded a penalty and Vermaelen was sent off.

Was it harsh? On first viewing I thought the referee had no choice but to give it. It’s one of those incidents where one little touch is going to bring down the striker and if he goes down and the defender doesn’t cleanly get the ball the referee is going to award a penalty. Unsurprisingly, it was Guile Franco who once again who fell easily and won a penalty that could have really changed our season.

But fortunately, like the Champions League semi-final against Villarreal, our goalkeeper saved the resulting penalty and we went into the break 1-0 up.

After that Song dropped into the back line, and as a team we defended excellently.

Cesc clipped the ball up onto Upson’s arm in the 82nd minute, and scored the resulting penalty.

Arsenal had won another cup tie, so that’s 5 down and 7 to go.

And that’s all I care about, and that’s all you need to know. For one day at least, Arsenal would be top of the league.

Well done boys.