Arsenal Grab Important Win At Upton Park Thanks To Cameo From Theo Walcott

Arsenal came from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park in a feisty London derby. A cameo substitute appearance from unsettled winger Theo Walcott turned the game in the Gunners's favour as he claimed a goal and an assist. The win lifts Arsenal to fifth in the Premier League table, just two points behind fourth-placed West Brom.

Arsenal started the match on the front foot and carved out the first meaningful chance in the sixth minute when Santi Cazorla found space on the edge of the box but saw his right-footed drive deflected behind for a corner.

It was only 15 minutes later when Mohamed Diame gave the Hammers the lead with a magnificent curling strike after nut-megging Aaron Ramsey to score from the tightest of angles and send the bubble-blowing contingent of Upton Park into raptures. He was then booked for an over-exuberant celebration. West Ham then found themselves in the driving seat, but could not convert a flurry of well-placed set-pieces into clear-cut opportunities.

Shortly before half-time came the moment that all Arsenal fans have been waiting for since the start of the season. Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for Arsenal since his big money summer transfer from Montpellier after sliding in to meet a low Lukas Podolski cross at the near post.

West Ham were surprisingly the team that put Arsenal under pressure at the start of the second half with a flurry of corners before Andy Carroll appeared to miss a great chance in the 54th minute after Nolan had seen his effort blocked, but  the former Bolton midfielder had already been flagged offside.

The home side came out at the start of the second half by far the stronger and immediately piled the pressure on the Gunners. Their first decent effort of the second 45 was when a long throw from Demel was flicked on by Carroll, only for club record signing Matt Jarvis to smash his shot into the stands.

Arsenal hit the Hammers on the counter-attack in the 65th minute, just minutes after Wenger had introduced Walcott and the substitute accidentally blocked a Cazorla shot. But he back-heeled the ball to Giroud who did well to get a shot away on the slide from a tight angle, only for his effort to find the side-netting.

In his first start since his home debut against Fulham Andy Carroll missed a glorious opportunity to give the home side the lead. He leaped above Vito Mannone, and with the goal gaping, drifted his header wide of the far post. Kevin Nolan was the next West Ham man to spurn a great chance when, after getting in behind the Arsenal defence, tried to cut inside and lost the ball when he should have shot.

Those missed chances seemed to push Arsenal into action and they were screaming for a penalty when Aaron Ramsey went down on the edge of the area, but Phil Dowd waved away the appeals. 

After Lukas Podolski had seen a low drive stopped by Jussi Jaaskelainen, Olivier Giroud sprung Walcott clear with an inch-perfect through-ball which the England winger duly converted as he slotted low to give Arsenal a precious lead with just 13 minutes remaining.

Sam Allardyce's team had a great chance to respond quickly, as less than two minutes after Walcott's strike the ball fell to Nolan, but he again wasted the chance and shot high over the cross-bar. 

The game was basically over in the 83rd minute as Walcott cut inside and laid the ball off to Santi Cazorla who thumped in a stunning strike into the far top corner to give the Gunners a two-goal cushion going into the final minutes. 

Giroud missed one last one-on-one in stoppage time, but it didn't matter as Arsenal comfortably held on to seal a crucial three points.

Berbatov Linked With Fulham After Dembele Joins Spurs

A busy day in the  the capital city saw Mousa Dembele complete his move from Fulham to Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee while Theo Walcott looks set to stay at The Emirates, but will not sign a new contract. Walcott refused to sign a five-year contract at £75,000 a week and it looks as though Arsene Wenger will take the chance that he might have to let him go for free. Dembele will strengthen Spurs's midfield after an impressive two seasons with Fulham. He did not score as many goals as he would have liked, however he did create plenty of chances and is a very talented player, showed by his tally of 40 caps and five goals for Belgium.

Fulham are rumoured to be in negotiations with Manchester United over a deal to bring striker Dimitar Berbatov to Craven Cottage. This would be a great signing for Martin Jol in a move that could open the door for Clint Dempsey to join Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. Also in West London Queen's Park Rangers brought in Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar from Inter Milan in a shock move that was a real statement of intent by manager Mark Hughes. This could prove to be a great signing after Robert Green has faltered in the Rs' opening two league matches. Hughes was understandably delighted with the signing: "When you get an opportunity to possibly bring a player of Julio Cesar's quality, with his playing record and his mentality then I think you have to pursue it."

Walcott has been linked with moves to Liverpool and Manchester City over the last couple of days but Wenger appears reluctant to let him go. Walcott has had a decent couple of years with 24 goals and 22 assists in 84 games in all competitions. However he has the tendency to drift in and out of games and only created one clear-cut chance every 91 minutes last year. After already losing talismanic striker Robin Van Persie and midfielder Alexandre Song, Arsenal are desperate to hold onto the winger. They do have other options on the flanks in the form of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Lukas Podolski, but Walcott's pace is important to their style of play. Manchester City are reported to still be interested but it appears unlikely that the England man will be leaving the Emirates in this transfer window.

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas will be very happy to add Dembele to his ranks at White Hart Lane after the recent £30 million departure of Luka Modric to Real Madrid. He will be looking towards the Belgian and fellow summer signing Gylfi Sigurdsson to produce the midfield magic needed to propel Tottenham into the top four. A Fulham statement said: "Following two full seasons at Craven Cottage, the club would like to thank Mousa for his contribution and wish him well throughout the rest of his career." Dembele tweeted that he was 'happy to confirm [he] signed a new contract with Tottenham FC.'

England 3 Sweden 2: England Keep Qualification Hopes Very Much Alive With Exciting Win

England hauled themselves out of a massive hole in Kiev this evening as they came back from 2-1 down to beat Sweden 3-2. With both sides desperately needing a win it proved to be an exciting match with plenty of chances at both ends.

'The Three Lions' started the better of the two sides and were rewarded for their pressing play when surprise selection Andy Carroll scored a thumping header in the 23rd minute from a brilliant Steven Gerrard cross. Neither side threatened much before half-time although Joe Hart was forced into a couple of stops from long-range Ibrahimovic efforts.

The game exploded into life in the second half as Carroll conceded a needless free-kick about 25 yards from goal. From the resulting set-piece a sliced Ibrahimovic rebound effort found its way to Olof Mellberg who was played onside by Glen Johnson who was slow to react. The ball rebounded off goalkeeper Hart onto Johnson before bobbling into the net to give Sweden a priceless equaliser.

England started to look devoid of ideas as Sweden continued to press and they took the lead from another set-piece, this time given away by James Milner. Sebastien Larsson whipped the ball into the centre where veteran defender Mellberg headed home completely unmarked.

England manager Roy Hodgson responded by replacing Milner with 23-year-old winger Theo Walcott. The decision paid dividends as Walcott's first meaningful contribution was to smash a thumping 25-yard swerving strike past the stranded Swedish goalkeeper Isaksson. The game then began to become more and more stretched as both sides pressed for a precious winner.

It was Walcott who was involved once more as England counter-attacked with pace and the Arsenal winger beat his man to cross for Danny Welbeck who scored with an acute back-heel. With just 12 minutes left Sweden continued to press but could not find an equaliser as the last good chance of the game fell to Scott Parker, who blazed over.

It proved not to matter though as Hodgson's men held on to move level on points with group leaders France while Sweden were eliminated. The immediate future looks bright for England as they head into Tuesday's game with co-hosts Ukraine needing just a draw to progress. Added to the availability of Wayne Rooney they are becoming more and more confident.