There's a long way to go but Arsenal have taken an important first step

There were no fights at the Emirates, no angry banners, no sullenness, no discord, no protests, and, by recent standards, very few empty seats

Arsenal have a long way to go but have taken the first step (Reuters)

The Arsene Wenger farewell tour began this afternoon with a 4-1 win over West Ham United that was at times stylish, maddening, joyous and far less routine than the scoreline might look. Which, with only a few sentences of Wenger’s last chapter left to be written, is not a bad way for it to go.

This was not always quite the emotional, celebratory atmosphere many were expecting here. In the eventless first half it almost felt as if fans were still coming to terms with Friday’s news. It was only in the final minutes, when Arsenal ran in three goals in the last eight minutes to win the game, that the noise and the old songs picked up.

Although this was only the first of three big goodbye shows here. Atletico Madrid play here on Thursday night, a bigger game against a better side, and given the stakes and the context, the chance to write the perfect epilogue in Lyon, the atmosphere will be electric. Then, Burnley on 6 May, the final home appearance, will be something else entirely.

But you can say this for today: it was, for the first time this season, a united, positive, re-engaged Arsenal crowd. This has not been a happy place for the last few years. But Wenger’s overdue resignation has changed that, extracting the venom that has poisoned this fanbase for so long. So today in the unseasonal sun there were no fights here, no angry banners, no sullenness, no discord, no protests, and, by recent standards, very few empty seats.

Arsenal have a very long way to go to get back to where they want to be. They need a new manager, they need to become hard to beat and then they need to win. But today, or more accurately the last three days, have felt like the start of the healing process. This fractious club has come back together, which at least is a start.

Here against West Ham United they produced a performance that will be very familiar to anyone who has seen the recent years of Arsenal. Playing well only in patches, most notably the final 10 minutes, they spent much of the afternoon looking as if they were going to throw this game away against a West Ham team capable of causing them real problems.

Wenger watched on in one of his final home games (Reuters)

One of Wenger’s more unfortunate legacies here is the dismal standard of defending and Arsenal never looked comfortable in the first half. Shkodran Mustafi is having a disastrous season and here Marko Arnautovic gave him another difficult afternoon. It took David Ospina, in for the injured Petr Cech, to keep Arsenal level in the first half.

Having created nothing in the first half, beyond one misguided Danny Welbeck header, it was only after the break that Arsenal switched on. With Welbeck and Alexandre Lacazette up front they should have been more dangerous but the midfield was no better than usual and it was only when Ainsley Maitland-Niles came on for the injured Mohamed Elneny that they developed some zip.

West Ham had looked well organised in the first half, but that all fell to pieces after the break. When Nacho Monreal volleyed in from a corner it was difficult to understand how it could have been so easy, and why Arthur Masuaku did so little to stop it standing on the post.

Arsenal battled to a win at the Emirates (Reuters)

This should have been the cue for Arsenal to take control and yet before they did that they threatened to throw the game away. Manuel Lanzini and Javier Hernandez came on to give West Ham some more skill in the final third, and it worked: Lanzini played in Arnautovic, whose first touch and finish was a reminder that he has been as important as anyone to West Ham’s rescue push.

This was the point, having blown the lead, when Arsenal teams so often collapse but in fact they were dramatically under-cut by West Ham. Having got back into the game they fell to pieces and the last 20 minutes, especially the last eight, were a one-way torrent of chances and goals.

Joe Hart briefly looked back to his best when he dived full stretch to tip away shots from Granit Xhaka and Welbeck. But he looked exasperated with nine minutes left when Ramsey curled in a cross from the right and Declan Rice, for reasons known only to him, ducked underneath the ball so it flew into the corner.

The win wasn't without fault but it was a start (AFP)

When Arsenal next surged forward Welbeck found Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, on as a sub, who set up Lacazette, whose shot deflected in off Aaron Cresswell. West Ham were on the beach by this point and in the last minute Aubameyang found Ramsey, who passed to Lacazette, who tucked it into the bottom corner.

As a show of Arsenal’s attacking power at the end of the game it was impressive, and these front three are maybe the club’s best asset going into the post-Wenger era. As a team performance it was not great, but much less bad than West Ham’s, given what happened at the end. But as a positive occasion for the whole club, players and fans, and the start of an emotional month, this felt like an important first step.