Arsenal came out of Ewood park with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Andrey Arshavin struck the winner in the second half, after Mame Diuof had cancelled out Theo Walcott’s opener.

Many critics feel that these are the kinds of games which champions need to win, something Arsenal have been unable to do over the last few seasons, but this performance of grit and resilience clearly showed their intent to lift the title they last won in 2004.

It was the home side though, who started the better side and should have taken the lead in the 9^th minute. As Sam Allardyce’s men always do, they went Route 1 style, and Ryan Nelsen’s on-target header was cleared off the line by Cesc Fabregas.

Blackburn were causing Arsenal loads of problems through their set-pieces and long balls, but it was the Gunners who opened the scoring in the 19^th minute. Robin Van Persie found Walcott with a neat through-ball and after taking a couple of touches, the England winger fired a low shot past Paul Robinson which nestled in the corner. Such was the velocity of the shot that repairs were needed at half-time on the goal.

Seven minutes later though, Blackburn drew level. El-Hadji Diouf powered his way past Laurent Koscielny before picking his namesake Mame to tap into an unguarded net. Chances were hard to come by from then on till the 45^th minute, and Blackburn went into the dressing rooms deservedly level.

Blackburn started the second period just as they did the first, and Morten Gamst Pedersen was just inches away when he tried his luck from 25 yards out.

But yet again, it was Arsenal who took the lead. Bacary Sagna ran free down the right and squared the ball from Fabregas, and after the Spaniard’s effort had rebounded off Walcott, it fell kindly from Arshavin who calmly half-volleyed past Robinson. The Russian had had a poor game and this goal would have gone a long way to rekindling his confidence.

The hosts then started to pile on the pressure, and Nikola Kalinic, who had been quiet all game, fired over the bar. David Dunn came on and tried to make an impact, and he almost scored the equaliser, but his weak effort from close range was scooped up by Almunia.

After lapping up some constant Blackburn pressure, Arsenal broke at the other end in injury-time, and when Wilshere was picked out by Walcott with only Robinson to beat, he just had to make it 3-1. But the youngster scuffed his effort, and the goalkeeper was able to save.

In the end though, Arsenal held on for a morale-boosting and extremely hard-fought win.

After the game, Arsene Wenger stated that he was very impressed by his team’s commitment, while Sam Allardyce rued his side’s missed chances in the first half.