Arsenal vs West Ham United - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 31st January 2009

Arsenal were unbeaten in 9 Premier League games going into this match against West Ham - always a tricky game, because they have a nasty habit of pulling off annoying results against Arsenal recently. Having said that we were unbeaten in 9, we have had distinct troubles scoring goals, and have generally been lacking something significant in the way of creativity. We are missing Fabregas, Walcott, Rosicky, and all those signings we failed to make in the summer. And, with this game happening 48 hours before another transfer deadline, most of the talk in the pubs was about whether we would spend any money. Knowing Arsene Wenger, expectation of that was generally low, but people were living in hope!

The game itself was a 0-0 draw, and like that at Cardiff the week before, was an utterly dull game, devoid of anything much in the way of entertainment. It is tempting to say that both sides got what they deserved in the way of goals, but it is a stretch to say that West Ham even deserved their "nil" - they came for a point, rarely crossed the halfway line, and Manuel Almunia earned his clean sheet for the game with no effort whatsoever. A terribly unadventurous tactic from West Ham, and when you think that Gianfranco Zola is their manager, it really seems unbecoming of such a great player to send his teams out with so little ambition. Still, he got what he came for I suppose.

On Arsenal's side, there were a couple of chances, the most notable of which fell to Adebayor - who was unlucky on one occasion, and just plain useless on another. Emmanuel Eboue had another totally useless half hour, after which he was substituted injured - whereupon Carlos Vela took about one minute to contribute more to the game than Eboue had managed in 30. But generally, as a fan, this was a game you kept watching out of duty to your team; and out of a vain hope that something might happen. In your heart of hearts, you knew it wasn't going to, but you felt compelled to keep watching just in case. No creativity in midfield, not much bite in attack, and nothing to suggest that Arsenal would ever have managed to get the breakthrough against a team that defended with determination. We need to do better if we are to qualify for the Champions League next season - and that is becoming a real worry.