Henry finds the champions' touch

West Ham 2 Arsenal 2: Late goals from the French strikeforce spare the blushes as the Gunners are forced to dig deep after Cole and Kanoute put Hammers in control

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 Touré at point-blank range.

But last year's Double winners did at least keep two sequences going – they are unbeaten now in 23 Premiership games and have scored in 42 games in a row.

Upton Park seemed a good place for Arsenal to go looking for the record; West Ham are the London team they have scored most goals against and collected most points from over the past six years. 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.

Frédéric Kanouté made it 2-0 early in the second half but, after Henry had pulled a goal back, his fellow Frenchman Kanouté wasted 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, Arsène 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. "Very few strikers in the world can hit the ball as hard as that. It takes some shot to beat David [James] from there," he said. "Sometimes you just have to put your hands up and say, 'Well done'."

The Liverpool manager, Gérard Houllier, said a little more than "well done" to his Senegal international El Hadji Diouf, who scored twice as the Merseyside club defeated Southampton 3-0 at Anfield. "Nobody knew of him before I signed him," said Houllier, who had virtually sealed the transfer before this summer's World Cup, "but he's making a good start to his career in England; he was excellent. He's a fast learner and is already a typical Liverpool player – he runs his legs off!"

Middlesbrough saw their expensive Italian acquisition Massimo Maccarone open his account with two goals at the Riverside, but they finished with a feeling of disbelief after Fulham scored twice in the closing moments to snatch a 2-2 draw. Blackburn's Dwight Yorke scored the first-ever Premiership goal at St Andrew's as Birmingham City's first home game of the season went sour on them with a 1-0 defeat. There was no joy either as West Bromwich Albion played Premiership football at the Hawthorns for the first time. Leeds United taught them a few harsh lessons in beating them 3-1, with Lee Bowyer the master, adding Leeds' second goal and commanding their midfield.