Adebayor inspires Gunners to victory

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Following Liverpool's victory at Stamford Bridge earlier on Sunday afternoon, and United's failure to beat Everton on Saturday, Arsene Wenger's side knew just what was at stake as they looked to keep pace with the Barclays Premier League leaders.

The Gunners - fresh from a fine 5-2 Champions League trashing of Fenerbahce in Turkey - certainly had to dig deep for their win, which came courtesy of an own goal from Julien Faubert and substitute Emmanuel Adebayor.

Winger Theo Walcott had been anonymous early on, but burst into the game in the 20th minute.

The England man turned his marker just inside the West Ham half before scampering away towards goal down the right. He darted inside and unleashed a fierce drive which cannoned off the top of Hammers goalkeeper Robert Green's crossbar.

With 25 minutes left, Wenger made a double change as Adebayor and Abou Diaby were introduced, replacing Samir Nasri and Walcott.

And Arsenal finally got the breakthrough with quarter of an hour to go when Adebayor weaved his way into the area and hit a low shot back across goal.

With Nicklas Bendtner lurking in the six-yard box, the unfortunate Faubert stuck out a boot which diverted the ball past Green.

Adebayor eventually made sure of what could yet prove to be three vital points in an intriguing title race when he latched on to a long pass up field from Bendtner to round Green and smash the ball into an empty net.

To compound the misery for West Ham, referee Phil Dowd showed striker Carlton Cole what seemed a somewhat harsh straight red card for a sliding tackle from behind on Song.