West Ham had their chances . . . the best of which fell to England hopeful Dean Ashton . . . but they also were indebted to keeper Rob Green, who made a string a fine saves.

Inside the opening two minutes Arsenal broke quickly down the left, with Abou Diaby cutting the ball back to Emmanuel Adebayor, who drilled a low shot just wide from 15 yards.

Ashton was leading the West Ham line with plenty of aggression, and turned to drill a 20-yard shot just over.

Arsenal, though, were ahead on 13 minutes. Adebayor held the ball up well on the right side of the area and fed a pass out to Alexander Hleb. His centre flew across the six-yard box, where van Persie arrived on queue at the far post to glance a header past Green, who was at full stretch and could only push the ball onto the post and in.

The goal silenced the home crowd, and after such a positive start the Hammers suddenly looked disjointed.

As the half-hour approached, West Ham were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men following an X-rated challenge by Mark Noble on Hleb.

The Belarus midfielder had to be carried off and was replaced by Emmanuel Eboue.

Van Persie came within inches of putting the visitors 2-0 ahead on 54 minutes.

The Dutchman sidestepped marker Gabbidon on the edge of the area, and drilled his shot towards the top left-hand corner. Green was again at full stretch and got his fingertips to the ball, which this time bounced back off the post and away.

Moments later it should have been 1-1 but Ashton could only fire straight at a grateful Manuel Almunia.

Ljungberg did get the ball into the net but was flagged offside in what looked a marginal call. Van Persie booted a header from Ashton clear in front of his own net as the Gunners closed out the match to stay clear at the top.