Late Arsenal winner against West Ham

Alex Song spared Arsenal's blushes with a late goal to seal a 1-0 win over Premier League strugglers West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium.

The Cameroon midfielder scored a diving header in the 88th minute to deny the Hammers a hard-earned point and leave them bottom of the table.

The win sees the Gunners maintain the five-point gap between themselves and leaders Chelsea, whilst Wolves' win over Manchester City leaves West Ham three points adrift at the bottom of the table.

The defeat was especially harsh on Robert Green, whose performance in the Hammers goal looked to have earned his team a vital point that could well have been significant in the final reckoning against their rivals fighting the drop.

Despite scoring twice in the Carling Cup win at Newcastle in midweek, Theo Walcott found himself on the bench as the in-form Samir Nasri returned to the starting line-up for Arsenal, whilst Frederic Piquionne was preferred to Carlton Cole in the Hammers' attack.

The Gunners were dominant in possession right from the kick-off, with Song heading on to the roof of the net from a free-kick and Danny Gabbidon putting in a well-timed block to deny Nasri a strike inside the box.

However, it took until midway through the half for them to test Green when Bacary Sagna pulled the ball back for Cesc Fabregas to strike but the goalkeeper matched the effort with a fine save to his left.

Mark Noble fired in several free-kicks and corners for West Ham, but Lukasz Fabianski marshalled his area well. It was a mark of how confident the much-maligned Pole is feeling following his good run in the Arsenal goal that, at one point, he came charging off his line to head a long ball out of play.

Just before the end of the half, Green was called into action again, this time blocking Song's strike which was hit right at him. The rebound almost fell kindly for Nasri, but the Frenchman could not quite catch his shot on the turn.

Arsenal emerged from the break with real intent, and Nasri struck a free-kick from 30 yards out that clipped the top of the crossbar.

But Andrei Arshavin went down too easily during a penalty shout while and Fabregas, Nasri and Marouane Chamakh all sent tame efforts towards Green.

And, when Walcott came off the bench and saw his effort rebound off the foot of the far post before having another strike saved by Green, it looked as though it was not going to be Arsenal's day.

As the clock ticked down and Green got down low to make another excellent save from Fabregas, the Hammers' resolve was finally broken when Gael Clichy's inviting cross was met by the stooped head of Song from close range.

It was the midfielder's third league goal of the season and sealed Arsenal's fifth straight win in all competitions.