The B-word is seemingly off limits at Arsenal. Arsène Wenger was exasperated when his Friday conference became consumed by it and his worst fears were almost confirmed here at Emirates Stadium when his players looked distracted for sizeable spells and might have been made to pay by a more ruthless team than West Ham.

Cue Cesc Fábregas. If anyone was going to bring it up, it was surely he. And after scoring the late penalty which sealed these three points, the Arsenal captain jumped in and did it. “We are only thinking about Birmingham. Our first priority is Birmingham and that is the sign of champions, taking things game by game,” he said.

Fábregas did get around to Barcelona, however, the club Arsenal will face in a mouthwatering Champions League quarter-final, and the one currently casting long shadows over the red half of north London. The Barcelona youth set-up was where it all started for him and two of his friends from those days, Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, are now fixtures in Pep Guardiola’s team. Then there is Thierry Henry, the former Arsenal captain and another good friend.

“It is very exciting,” said Fábregas. “We are going to play against the best team in Europe, probably in the world. But we always go with the same mentality and that is to win. If you want to win the competition, you have to beat everyone who is coming. If we had been drawn against Bordeaux or Lyon, we would have taken it the same way.”

It is the Premier League trip to St Andrew’s on Saturday, however, which comes first and that is quickening the pulse of Fábregas and his team-mates. It was there two seasons ago that Arsenal’s title challenge started to unravel amid the catastrophic injury to Eduardo, but this time Wenger and his players sense a happier ending.

Only seven league games are left. If Arsenal can win them all, as they have their previous six and as they believe they can, then they would only need the merest of slips from Manchester United and Chelsea.

Wenger will be without both of his first-choice central defenders against Birmingham. Thomas Vermaelen is suspended, having been harshly dismissed for what was adjudged a professional foul on the West Ham striker Guillermo Franco – Manuel Almunia made a crucial save from the resultant 45th-minute Alessandro Diamanti penalty – and William Gallas remains a serious injury concern.

But given the seamless fashion in which Alex Song dropped back from midfield to deputise for Vermaelen, Wenger will not worry. He described Song as perhaps the most improved player in the Premier League. “When we lost at home to Chelsea and Man United, and I must say it was in a convincing way, everybody got a little bit carried away and you have to go a bit overboard,” he said.

“Nobody takes you seriously after that. But I believe we can go and win the next games. To have a chance, we absolutely have to win all of our games.”

Wenger paraphrased Rhett Butler when he was asked whether it would bother him, in the event of Arsenal winning the title, that they had failed to take a point from United or Chelsea. “Frankly, no,” he said, as he pointed out that United had won last season’s championship with a haul of only five points from their encounters with the other three Champions League qualifiers. “Yes, there is a point of view there but I tell you, I would still take the title.”

West Ham were left to lament not only Diamanti’s penalty miss but the way that, against 10 men, they went close to equalising Denílson’s low drive only once, when the substitute Carlton Cole hit a post on 78 minutes.

Arsenal knew that they had been in a game and West Ham moved the ball pleasingly at times but, in the crucial six-pointer at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow – a point and a place above them in 16th position – Gianfranco Zola’s side need to be much sharper in front of goal.

“In these moments, you have to keep your composure,” said Zola, a comment directed at everyone at the club, from the new owners down. “You have to do the right things and not get emotional because you don’t improve the situation.”

Premier LeagueArsenalWest Ham UnitedDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk

• Zola hoping to repay trust of new owners with results
• Benni McCarthy and Benjani Mwaruwari expected to sign

Gianfranco Zola has admitted the completion of the protracted takeover of West Ham United by David Sullivan and David Gold came as “a massive relief”, though the Italian acknowledged that the onus is now on him to steer the club away from the threat of relegation if he is to retain his position at Upton Park.

The new owners stated publicly last week that they retain complete faith in Zola, a relative managerial novice in his first club appointment, despite suggestions that they had considered recruiting Mark Hughes with a short-term brief of staving off relegation. They have since spoken with the Italian on a daily basis as West Ham seek to reinforce their squad, with the Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy and Manchester City’s Benjani Mwaruwari expected to complete moves to Upton Park ahead of the weekend. Blackburn announced they have received a written offer from West Ham for McCarthy.

While strengthening the forward ranks was considered a priority, just as significant has been confirmation that none of West Ham’s key players will need to be sold. “Every window we’ve had to sell someone because of the financial problems, so to know everyone is staying is massive,” said Zola, who had feared losing the likes of Scott Parker and Matthew