Arsenal show new depth and grit in a bruising encounter.

It's never easy to go to Upton Park; we found that out last season, where a last minute winner ended a match we should have won. Indeed, it had been seven years since our last win at the Boleyn.

A combination of factors ensured that Saturday's match ended in a more positive manner.

Firstly, a degree of luck. You get the feeling that the offside decision that denied Freddie a goal may not have been given last year, while Dean Ashton rarely heads straight at the goalkeeper when virtually unmarked. The feeling on West Ham boards is that they were owed a penalty as well, from a Senderos shove on Ashton.

Secondly, grit. It would be harsh to characterise West Ham as no more than a team of bruisers, but they clearly have a few players who do like to stick the boot in. Ironically, it was one of their less thuggish players who put an appalling tackle in on Alex Hleb before half-time. How Noble remained on the pitch is a mystery: accident or not, that was a leg-breaker of a tackle and we should be thankful that Alex - who Curbishley praised highly after the game - escaped with only heavy bruising.

Last year, in the face of such tackles, we may have folded. Thierry would have probably put his arm round Noble in an effort to broker the peace. This season, we have Matthieu 'don't fuck with my team' Flamini, who promptly clobbered Parker shortly afterwards. Even Cesc notably went after Noble.

I'm never one for condemning violent play, but there's a time and place to show that you'll stand up for your team-mates, and won't let yourself be bullied. With Flamini and Sagna, we finally seem to have some 'enforcers' in the side, who prevent the more physical teams from pushing us around.

Thirdly, we're scoring a variety of goals. RvP scored a great header to win the game, and were it not for the inspired Rob Green - who always seems to have a blinder against us - he would have had more. Green made fine saves from long-distance efforts from Flamini and Clichy, and also made a smart save to deny Adebayor.

Adebayor is undoubtedly one of the key figures in the team at the moment, but he needs to score with his first or second chances more often. Due to the type of team we are, he normally gets enough chances to score, but in top-level games, we might be punished for a lack of clincal finishing.

Overall, it was a real scrap. The value of these victories cannot be underestimated: we're starting to win ugly in physical matches, the real mark of a team with championship winning credentials.

The importance of the win was hammered home as United also ground out another 1-0 win. One of the most frustrating things of late has been watching United come away with points after very average performances. They've kept themselves within touching distance and are undoubtedly waiting for us to drop a few points ourselves.

The season seems to be boiling down to the following key questions already. Will Benitez tinker himself out of a title? Do United have the firepower to challenge? Can we maintain our heady start to proceedings? And, hilariously, will Chelsea finish in the top four?