Wiltord crashes the Hammers party

In the end it proved a challenge too far for Arsenal. Sure, you can turn over your hosts at Old Trafford, St James' Park and Villa Park, as Arsenal managed during their winning Premiership sequence last season. But here, on the mean territory of east London, where many have succumbed attempting to overcome the most resourceful and frequently the most able of opponents, Arsenal's valiant record attempt came to grief.

It had been nearly seven months and 14 games since Arsenal failed to secure a League victory, a series that goes back to 2 February, when Jo Tessem's header secured Southampton a draw at Highbury. Here a historic 15th success beckoned. But whether the Gunners had begun to believe in their infallibility, or it was simply a day on which West Ham exerted every sinew to examine their illustrious rivals and secure a result, for two-thirds of this contest the the Double winners could not contain their exuberant opponents. Perhaps something of both.

Down 2-0 just after half-time, they would have been 3-1 adrift had Frédéric Kanouté converted a penalty 15 minutes from time. Yet Arsène Wenger's team recovered with the kind of incisive, scintillating football that characterised their performances last season.

In truth, Glenn Roeder's men should have claimed the spoils on an afternoon in which Joe Cole scurried all over the field to lethal effect and Jermain Defoe showed why he is adjudged a future England forward. Both they, together with Kanouté, Trevor Sinclair, Michael Carrick and the impressive Frenchman Edouard Cissé, making his debut, inflicted constant fear in the heart of the Gunners' rearguard.

The West Ham manager's dejection was all too apparent, and understandable, when, with two minutes remaining, Sylvain Wiltord unleashed a venomous drive past David James to claim an equaliser. The response of the Arsenal players suggested just huge relief that they had resisted defeat, as they had on their travels in the League all last season.

For sheer bloody-minded refusal to accept the inevitable, the champions are surely beyond comparison. "It was very satisfying to come back from 2-0 down, and it could have been 3-1," Wenger said, with more than a hint of understatement. "You need special strengths, we found them. This team never give up. We have exceptional mental strength as well as talent."

His counterpart, Roeder, was a picture of exasperation. "Before the game we might have been satisfied with a point," he said. "But that was a winning performance. Make no mistake about that."

The Hammers enjoyed the best of the initial sparring, but it was Arsenal who looked the more potent on the counter-attack. Dennis Bergkamp set up one opportunity for Thierry Henry with a finely weighted ball but, although the striker burst through the home rearguard, his direction was poor. Soon afterwards, the Frenchman turned and outstripped Tomas Repka before forcing a fine save from James.

It appeared only a matter of time before Arsenal's attacking verve brought its reward, but the Hammers have rarely been easily breached at home, and, having repelled those initial Arsenal forays, proceeded to look the likeliest scorers. Defoe, from nothing, left David Seaman staring in disbelief as his effort from outside the area struck a post.

Then the lively defender Sébastien Schemmel, who was causing Arsenal countless problems with his incursions down the right flank, cut the ball back for Kanouté, but the striker's attempted finish from a central position was grotesque. Cissé served up another chance for his compatriot, but this time Seaman denied him.

Two minutes before the end of a half which will have been far from satisfactory for Wenger, West Ham took the lead. Sinclair instigated the move before finding Kanouté. There was a groan from the crowd when the Frenchman turned away from goal, but that reaction changed to jubilation when he played the ball astutely across to Cole, who caught it exquisitely with a left-foot drive which curled beyond Seaman. The scorer celebrated in the style of a man who had failed to score in the Premiership all last season.

Nwankwo Kanu replaced Bergkamp at the break, but it was Hammers who increased the pressure when Defoe's low driven cross was stabbed home at the near post by Kanouté, who arrived before Martin Keown. Twice in the next five minutes it might have been three as Joe Cole delivered an inviting ball in front of Kanouté, who was first thwarted by a splendid save from Seaman and then saw his effort narrowly elude the far post.

It appeared a hopeless cause for the visitors, but Henry raised hopes with his second goal of the season as he spun on to a ball from Patrick Vieira and struck it with demonic savage from outside the area. James was helpless. "It would not surprise me if that wasn't the goal of the season," remarked Wenger.

Fifteen minutes from time, West Ham should have quelled their own and their supporters' strained nerves when Cole, Ashley, brought his namesake, Joe, to ground in the area with a clumsy challenge. The referee Neale Barry had no doubt it was a penalty, but Vieira was cautioned as he led the Arsenal protests before Kanouté eventually took the spot-kick. It was a weak effort, to Seaman's right, and the England goalkeeper made a comfortable save.

Arsenal were encouraged. There was an inevitability about the manner in which Wiltord and Henry combined, with the former crashing the equaliser past James. Henry's free-kick in added time was turned over by the West Ham goalkeeper, who then saved from the substitute midfielder Kolo Touré, who hails from the Ivory Coast. But a winner would have been the final insult to the Hammers on a day when they somehow succeeded in denying Arsenal a record but broke their own hearts.

West Ham United 2 Arsenal 2
J Cole 44, Henry 65
Kanouté 53, Wiltord 88

Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 35,048