Arsenal 1 West Brom 0: IT WAS as Samir Nasri picked up the pieces of his career, after falling ill with meningitis, that Arsene Wenger faced the test of his convictions.

The midfielder had been named as France's Young Player of the Year in 2006-07, ahead of Lyon's Karim Benzema, but the virus that cut him down last September had many of his admirers taking stock. Nasri struggled sorely after his return to the Marseille team.

But Wenger did not run. The Arsenal manager had watched Nasri's first professional start for the French club some three seasons previously and the images retained a startling clarity.

He had tracked his progress since, noting a player with the sharpness of mind and technique to play for Arsenal and, at the end of last season, aware that he would lose Alexander Hleb to Barcelona, he backed his instincts.

It cost him. The fee of €15 million represented a huge gamble but on Saturday, as Arsenal sleepwalked their way to victory over newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion, Nasri offered encouragement.

If Hleb came to epitomise Arsenal's tendency to over-elaborate, with his feints and dribbling ability but lack of an end product, it was refreshing to see the decisiveness in Nasri's game.

Having timed his run on to Denilson's pull-back to score what proved to be the game's only goal after four minutes, the 21-year-old probed for final balls and showed a willingness to shoot rather than check and pass.

"Nasri can give us increased cutting edge," said Wenger. "He is intelligent, he looks to have good acceleration, he sees a good vision of the game and that left flank suits him quite well.

"He had a bad season last year because he had meningitis, he was in hospital for two weeks, he didn't recover properly for three months and then they rushed him back to play and, of course, he was not at the expected level.

"The season before, everybody wanted him. Sometimes you have to be brave enough when everybody says he is not good. I saw him start his first game and he gave me an impression that you keep with you, when you see things. You have to go with your beliefs."

Nasri grew up in one of Marseille's tough suburbs and his Algerian extraction, coupled with his creative talent, led to the inevitable, if unfair, comparison.

"It is of course flattering to be compared to Zinedine Zidane but it's also a bit annoying because that is a lot of pressure," said Nasri. "He is the best player of the past 10 years in European football. When I arrived at Arsenal, no one told me as well that I was the successor for Alex Hleb.

"We play very different football. I will try to bring my own game here and take the team forward. I would rather be known as Samir Nasri."

Wenger, though, does see certain similarities between him and a former Arsenal favourite.

"There is maybe a bit of Robert Pires in him because he looks to be able to change direction very easily and (he has) a little bit the same style of run," said Wenger, who added that although Nasri was smaller than Pires, he was more prepared to put his foot in.

"That will not be difficult," he smiled. "Robert's strength was the intelligence of his game, not his tackling."

Nasri, who stands at 5ft 8in and weighs a little under 12st, has been placed on a specialist programme by the club's medical staff to bulk him up. West Bromwich, though, found it difficult to lever him off the ball.

"There were not that many problems for me to adapt to playing in England," Nasri added. "When I first met the boss, he said that I would need a bit of time, maybe up to six months, but I felt really good straight away.

"There was a bit more contact than in France but the main change was the intensity of the game and how quick the 90 minutes actually goes."

• Guardian Service