It was a weak effort to Seaman’s right and the England goalkeeper made

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 Tour?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 Kanout?3, Wiltord 88Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 35,048. Arsenal’s attempt to set an English record of 15 successive wins in the League ended yesterday when they were held to a 2-2 draw by West Ham United in a remarkable match at Upton Park.

At 2-0 down Arsenal’s quest for another place in the history books looked to be over, but in the end it was close, very close. After Thierry Henry, with a spectacular strike, and Sylvain Wiltord – in the 88th minute – had got them on level terms, Henry saw his free-kick in injury time touched over the home goal by David James, who also saved from Kolo Tour?t point-blank range. But West Ham, beaten 4-0 at Newcastle United in their opening game of the season, set out determined to make amends for that limp performance. Trevor Sinclair left his England team-mate David Seaman flat-footed with a 20-yard thunderbolt that the Arsenal goalkeeper saw thump against a post. On the stroke of half-time Joe Cole curled in the opener from similar range.Fr?ric Kanout?ade it 2-0 early in the second half but, after Henry had pulled a goal back, his fellow Frenchman Kanout?asted the chance to put the Hammers back in control when his weak penalty was saved by Seaman. Wiltord then equalised to set up the dramatic finale.Arsenal’s manager, Ars? Wenger, was not downhearted about the record eluding his side, rather he was delighted with the manner of their fightback.

“When you come back from 2-0 down to 2-2 – and it could have been 3-2 – it feels a bit like a victory,” he said. “When it went to 2-0, we needed special, exceptional strength to come back. We found our game after an hour and showed talent to save a penalty and get two great goals.”Not least Arsenal’s first, fired in on the turn by Henry from the edge of the penalty area It had Wenger and his opposite number, Glenn Roeder, raving Wenger said: “It was amazing, like a missile. There wasn’t even time to realise it was in and it wouldn’t surprise me if it is one of the goals of the season.” Roeder concurred.