A rare 3pm Saturday game for Arsenal this week, a not-so-rare home win in the league.

In addition to our extensive pre-match coverage of the game, we got our writers together for a short prediction on how they thought the game would pan out.

Here’s how that went

Lee Hurley Win 3-0

Another Arsenal game, another correct prediction from me. Seems I’m not totally crap at this after all.

Well done Arsenal. Now, Monaco if you please…

Helen Trantum Win 3-1

Not bad, I got the Arsenal win (easy) and the three goals for the home side (slightly more challenging).

West Ham didn’t get their goal as they chose not to play as if they had nothing to lose, instead behaving as if they had one eye on their upcoming run of fixtures against the Premier League bottom-dwellers, but you won’t catch me complaining!

They stood off us, leaving ten men behind the ball almost all of the time, and abandoned Sakho up front to offer any kind of threat. In fairness to Sakho, he did win quite a few set pieces for West Ham, but our defence dealt with them comfortably.

Truth is, it was a bit of a weird game – incredibly one-sided and only one team looking threatening, yet until we got our second goal it is never fully comfortable. I talked before the game about the crowd being the 12th man, and there were certainly signs of the people trying to generate an atmosphere, but it wasn’t until the first goal that songs really broke out in earnest.

All in all though, we got the three points and with City losing at Burnley in the late kickoff, we’re now just a solitary point of second.

Now all we need is Chelsea to press self-destruct, and a repeat of this scoreline against Monaco.

How hard can it be?

Stephen Bradley Win 3-1

All in all, a pretty comprehensive victory. Eight home league wins in a row.

That Monaco game is looking more and more like an outlier as time passes.

Hard to say that anyone had a “bad” game, although Chambers did get caught out quite often when defending Matt Jarvis one-on-one, but apart from that, West Ham didn’t really threaten us that much.

It’s games like this that show Giroud’s importance to the side.

When teams pack players in front of us, you need guile and finesse more than brute pace and power. Time and again, he provided perfect balls for runners to get behind the West Ham backline.

Ramsey and Walcott were given tons of opportunities to score, and were a constant threat.

Bring on Monaco!

Paul Williams Win 3-1

Due to family commitments I didn’t see the game (bad Paul),  but I wasn’t surprised by Arsenal’s three goals against West Ham.

Only West Ham’s failure to find the net prevented me from getting a correct score, but I don’t feel like complaining as the win caps a great week of football.

That’s eight in a row at the Enormodome now, Arsenal’s best sequence since they moved in 2006.

Real momentum seems to be growing as the run in begins, long may it continue.

Match of the Day should be fun!

Sylvain Jamet Win 3-0

Well I dont get my predictions right very often. Pleased with the result. Clean sheet and three goals. Cant ask for much more.

Same result at Monaco please

Lewis Ambrose Win 3-0

A second consecutive Premier League correct score prediction from me! Chuffed!

It really was a composed victory. Walcott spurned early chances (credit for his movement) but the goal before halftime was coming. Giroud loves that intricate play near the box and was crucial for every goal.

Lastly, it was superb to see Aaron Ramsey with probably his best performance of the season.

Thanks, Arsenal!

Nia Griffiths Win 3-0

I didn’t get to see the game but I’m happy withe both the fact that we won and that I got my socre prediction right – something of rarity or me.

Andi Foster Win 2-1

I was the furthest away from the correct result, which also means that I’m the most pleasantly surprised.

It was a hard fought yet (eventually) solid victory that takes us into the Monaco game hopefully ready to perform.

It was also really good for Walcott to get some playing time because he could be key in the end of season fight.

Sean Ferguson Win 3-0

A great win over a pretty poor West Ham team.

I’m happy to have predicted the right score and even happier that I made it into the bookies before the game. Cheers Flamini!

Thought Giroud, Le Coq and Kos were outstanding today, my only concern was Theo but more than happy for him to be a tad wasteful if we win 3-0.

Nice to carry on our great run at the Emirates and hopefully we see the same result on Tuesday!

Mark Fine Win 3-1

Team was generally OK on defence. Coverage was excellent at times with two-three men on whoever had the ball: closing down and intercepting.

Really think that’s been a key difference of late.

Fairly convinced that Theo is bereft of confidence.

Late shooting is first tell. Weak finishing the second. Not playing opposition close is third. He really should have had a pen early in the match though.

Similarly, I think Ramsey keeps trying for the hard shots instead of the makable ones. There was no reason for him to shoot for the opposite corner when the near corner was wide open. He showed that going the direct route works with the one he scrored.

Giroud’s goal was textbook trickery. A slight stutter, step, delay sent Adrian flying too early and out of the way.

I predicted the Hammers would disappear in the second half and nothing says that more than a Flamini tap-in goal.

Another clean sheet and a nice, well-played three-goal win. This, despite a late (and rare) ref sub appearance by Anthony Taylor.

On to Monaco.

Anita Sambol Win 3-0

I finally guessed the result!

Great result, some stunning representations of Wengerball during match and the usual amount of heart-in-mouth moments.

My mom says “You’re all welcome” as she dragged me away from match in the 80th minute and we scored two.

Great to have Welsh Messi back on form, but frustrating that Theo didn’t take his chances.

This makes me even more hopeful for Monaco.