ARSENAL have held off West Ham’s fight back to beat their London rivals on the East side of the river.
Gabriel, Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz had put the Gunners four up.
But two quickfire goals from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson gave the Hammers some hope.
However, Bukayo Saka’s late first-half penalty calmed the Gunners’ nerves once more and ultimately earned the visitors all three points
- RESULT: West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
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That’s all folks
It was game over at half time as five-star Arsenal ran riot in a quite brilliant first 45 minutes.
They were 4-0 up at one stage with goals from Gabiel, Trossard, Odegaard and Havertz.
West Ham scored two in two minutes to make it exciting with five minutes to go in the first period and the stadium was jumping.
But that energy was quickly zapped when Bukayo Saka scored a penalty late in stoppage time to make it seven goals from nine shots on target in a quite brilliant half of football.
The second half was a bit of a waste of time and non-contest as Mikel Arteta was afforded the chance to rest a few key players ahead of Man Utd in midweek.
They can sit and watch Liverpool vs Man City with their feet up tomorrow….
Match stats
A look at the numbers behind that game as Arsenal dominated pretty much every area.
West Ham closed the gap in some of those areas but it was all a little too late when the game was effectively over.
Match report
Arsenal’s Men In Black destroyed West Ham with dark arts, ruthless calm and flashes of deadly beauty.
And Julen Lopetegui’s team must wish the Gunners also had the magic Neuralyzer gadget from the Will Smith films to wipe this Hammer house of horror show from their memory.
But no-one who witnessed it will ever forget a half of football that made Hollywood’s best attempt to do football, Escape To Victory, look realistic.
Only three times before has the Premier League come up with a script featuring seven goals in the opening 45 minutes.
When the first four of them went to Arsenal, a significant number of home fans headed for the exits.
How we stand
Arsenal now up to second in the table and will be able to watch their title rivals with their feet up tomorrow.
The Hammers stay in 14th.
Full time views of SunSport’s Jordan Davies at the London Stadium
Not a bad message-sending sort of performance is it? Liverpool know they need to win tomorrow to maintain their nine-point gap.
But away from the title race, the Gunners are well and truly back to their brilliant selves now after a woeful run of four Prem games without a win.
Martin Odegaard is orchestrating and creating, set-piece routines are flowing and the goals are being shared around, despite continued calls for Mikel Arteta to sign a world class No.9.
For the second time in a week, Arsenal have scored five with five different goalscorers. In the 5-1 trouncing of Sporting Lisbon it was Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Gabriel, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.
And at the London Stadium, there were some similar faces in Gabriel, Trossard, Havertz, Saka and Odegaard.
FT!
It’s all over the London Stadium as Arsenal move second in the Premier League table.
West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
90+3 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Soucek is shown a yellow card for a late challenge.
Arsenal played on after the tackle and almost add a sixth.
90+1 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
So close for West Ham who should have another one back!
Danny Ings is allowed to get in behind as Saliba and Raya make a mess of it.
Ings is forced wide when skipping by the keeper but drags his shot at an empty net from a tight angle wide.
90 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Five minutes added time
89 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Gabriel Jesus tries to trick his way through the West Ham defence but he’s brought down.
Raheem Sterling sends a dipping free kick towards goal but it drifts just wide.
85 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Not much happening here at all.
Sterling just had an effort smashed into the side netting.
The referee could probably call full time now and everyone would be happy.
77 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
And two more for West Ham, too.
- OFF: Paqueta & Soler
- ON: Irving & Rodriguez
74 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Double change for the Gunners
- OFF: Odegaard & Saka
- ON: Jesus & Sterling
Current numbers
The stats back up what Jordan’s saying as West Ham struggle to get any sort of momentum going in the second period.
More subs getting ready on the visitor’s bench too.
View from the London Stadium of SunSport’s Jordan Davies
Arsenal are seeing this one out, and it could be a good chance for Mikel Arteta to rest key faces ahead of their home clash with Manchester United on Wednesday night.
Gabriel has already been brought off at half-time with a suspected head injury, Riccardo Calafiori has been subbed to give Oleksandr Zinchenko some game time, while Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka have both been down receiving treatment in the last 10 minutes having been on the end of some frustrated West Ham tackles.
Raheem Sterling is in desperate need of minutes, so would be a shock if he was not to make a cameo at some point, while Ethan Nwaneri would be a popular addition to the pitch.
65 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Double change for the hosts:
- OFF: Antonio & Emerson
- ON: Ings & Coufal
62 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Saka is back on.
West Ham deal with a couple of back-to-back corners with relative ease.
61 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Just a few yards from the byline, Saka is allowed to walk off to the side of the park and kill a bit more time.
Saka limps off but I’d hazard a guess that he’ll be back on shortly.
60 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Bukayo Saka cuts in from the right and tries to hang one up at the back post which deflects for a corner.
Saka has stayed down though. He’s caught the defender on his follow through and appears in pain as the physio makes his way on.
59 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Odegaard has a go from 25 yards but he’s on the stretch when doing so.
Comfortable enough save for Fabianski down to his right.
56 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Arsenal go their bench again. Anthony Taylor allows Calafiori to jog slowly from one side of the park to the other to go off.
The inconsistency in that ruling is mind-boggling. Particularly as he’s apparently one of the league’s best.
Looks like Calafiori might just be struggling as he slowly makes his way off.
- OFF: Calafiori
- ON: Zinchenko
55 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Corner comes to nothing.
CLOSE! 54 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Really good play from West Ham as they play through the middle of the park.
Paqueta finds Antonio on the edge of the box and he uses good strength to turn and shoot low and it goes narrowly wide.
Corner awarded though.
52 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
All Arsenal at the start of the second half without creating too much.
A couple of corners have been sent in but they’re lacking without Gabriel’s presence.
West Ham’s first attack ends with a strike from Bowen from 25 yards going well over.
46 – West Ham 2-5 Arsenal
Gabriel hasn’t returned for the second half. We wait to hear why.
West Ham
- OFF: Summerville
- ON: Alvarez
Arsenal
- OFF: Gabriel
- ON: Kiwior
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
