Arsenal destroy West Ham as Declan Rice dominates old side on return - 5 talking points
Arsenal's title tilt rolls on after the Gunners decimated West Ham with a 6-0 win that included four first-half goals.
With title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool both recording wins on Saturday afternoon, the pressure was on Mikel Arteta's men to do the same. Gunners' record signing Declan Rice was the subject of some boos early on both ahead of kick-off and each time he was in possession, there was no animosity in the other direction though, with the midfielder applauding Hammers fans while making his way over to take a corner.
Arsenal eventually made their early pressure count, with William Saliba on hand to nod home from Rice's corner. Moments later, Bukayo Saka put last season's West Ham penalty demons to bed, doing what he couldn't last time to score his spot-kick after being brought down by Areola.
Arteta's side weren't done there, with Rice registering another assist after Gabriel Magalhaes got on the scoresheet once again. The Brazil international was left with far too much space and followed in the footsteps of his centre-back partner to head Arsenal into a three-goal cushion.
And yet, even more was to come before the half-time whistle. Martin Odegaard found Leandro Trossard with a neat pass and the Belgium international did the rest, lashing home the pick of the bunch to all but end the tie as a contest before the interval.
The Gunners smelt blood in the second-half and if Saka's second, Arsenal's fifth annoyed the home fans - Rice firing home a thunderbolt from outside of the box certainly stung. So comfortable were Arsenal, that Arteta even opted to hand 16-year-old Ethan Nwaneri some minutes before the end.
Mirror Football has analysed five talking points from one of Arsenal's most impressive victories this
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