I love a happy ending, although for much of the 90 minutes in the FA Cup 3rd Round tie at West Ham, I couldn’t see where it might come from. For the first hour of the game, Arsenal’s front five of Ramsey, Merida, Wilshere, Vela and Eduardo were ineffectual and looked disjointed. Vela was central and Eduardo wide left. Granted Eduardo has not excelled as the hold up forward, but Vela, when given the opportunity, has arguably looked even worse. Two Brits, three Latins and neither grit nor flair. To compound the misery, West Ham went ahead in first half injury time and bossed the game in the early stages after the interval.

Nasri and Diaby may be relatively young in general football terms, but they are veterans compared to the players they replaced – Merida and Wilshere. It was a toss up out of those two and Vela which pair would be withdrawn, based on the poverty of their displays in the first hour. Anyway, Vela was switched to wide left, Eduardo went central and the addition of two more familiar faces added a great deal of cohesion to Arsenal’s play. There was also far more effective use of the flanks.

I wasn’t certain of a breakthrough, but unquestionably more hopeful. A combination of the Gunners cranking it up a gear and the Hammers’ own fatigue led to an equaliser and then a winner – both corking goals. And goals that demonstrated the qualities these players are capable of. Where these were for so much of the game, God alone knows, but all’s well that ends well.

Aaron Ramsey was named man of the match, but in reality, it was William Gallas, whose performance was immense. No co-incidence that when he became injured in about March of last season, the side began leaking goals like there was no tomorrow, not least to Manchester United and Chelsea.

When the Hammers named a centre-forward making his debut – Frank Nouble – in their starting eleven, I was afraid of an FA Cup fairy tale. When they scored through Diamanti, I could see the following morning’s headlines with a variety of puns such as ‘Diamanti is forever’, etc. Thankfully, we have been spared those.

Once Arsenal went ahead, I feared the worst when I saw a backheeled pass – possibly from Nasri, but fortunately, full blown showboating did not develop. Maybe the lesson of the 2-2 draw at the same venue earlier this season has been learned.

Arsenal visit Stoke in the 4th round. That is on the weekend before the critical run of games against the other leading sides beginning with the midweek visit to Villa Park. If Wenger wants to rest players ahead of Bolton and Everton at home, then I can only imagine what kind of line up we’ll see at the Britannia Stadium. Might just be a case of men against boys in that one. Still, the magic of the Cup survives after the last 20 minutes against West Ham, and it was worth the wait.