Come in Andrei Arshavin. Whatever your number is, Arsenal really must dig it out. Any more of this reversion to the boring days of old and Arsène Wenger will have more than just failing title aspirations to worry about.It was not the free-flowing West Ham United they came unstuck against, but a resilient, safety-first approach by the visitors, who seemed perfectly pleased with their point. This time there was no last-gasp face-saver from Arsenal. Just another big yawn of a performance.Wenger's obstinacy sometimes knows no bounds. What of Robin van Persie the team's most adept performer by miles? Wenger rested him, with Tuesday night's FA Cup replay against Cardiff around the corner. It was a pretty damning indication of Wenger's altered priorities this season, however much he claims to still be thinking about the title race.Considering the part of Emmanuel Adebayor has this season been played by an imposter and Nicklas Bendtner is far more effective as a substitute, Van Persie's absence really was a gamble.Without him it was left to Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby to show any semblance of vision or snappy passing. It was just unfortunate most of the early chances fell to Emmanuel Eboué. His shooting is not a particularly well-known asset. When Carlos Vela replaced the Ivorian, who collapsed under a Scott Parker challenge, before half time the crowd suppressed their boos but were clearly pleased to welcome the nimble young Mexican all the same. Not that clean chances were aplenty whoever the personnel. West Ham possessed the defensive anticipation to calmly deal with headers from Diaby and Bendtner.Gianfranco Zola's team were far less imaginative than recent form suggested, barely reaching Manuel Almunia's goalmouth other than in first-half stoppage time, when James Collins headed Mark Noble's corner towards the goal and Gaël Clichy ushered the danger away on the line.Collins saved West Ham in similar fashion after the break, nodding away from Kolo Touré. Zola also resisted the temptation to give a start to his new £9m attacker, Savio, who came on shortly after van Persie. But it was Adebayor who had the best chances to win the game before it petered out - both were squandered. A poor afternoon for Wenger worsened in stoppage time as Diaby was stretched off.Arsenal had all the shots, but could not make them countPremier LeagueArsenalWest Ham Unitedguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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