Celebration time again as Arsenal hammer the Hammers

Premier League: West Ham 0 Arsenal 6

FOUR goals in just 15 first-half minutes finished off West Ham’s latest attempt to derail Arsenal’s Premier League title aspirations. So one-sided was this London derby the half-time scoreline flattered David Moyes’ side. No wonder so many home fans chose to skip the second half and not have to listen to the Arsenal supporters celebrate another day very much in the title race.

William Saliba’s 32nd-minute header from a corner was quickly followed by a Bukayo Saka penalty, a Gabriel set-piece header and a Leandro Trossard curler. They could have had so many more. This was Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at their best, just as they had been in dismantling league leaders Liverpool last Sunday.

The second-half target was to get to seven and move into second place, ahead of Manchester City on goal difference. A second from Saka and a strike for the ages from former West Ham favourite Declan Rice, who was booed throughout, made it six with 25 minutes to go. It was enough to record their biggest away win in the brief history of the Premier League, but not enough to move them up the table.

The prospect of West Ham defeating Arsenal for a third time this season was widely discussed before kick-off.  So too in the Arsenal dressing room. Arteta revealed just what was said. “I told them ‘it is time to beat West Ham’ – as simple as that. We all knew it. We all had it in our tummies. We had to do certain things better in both boxes than we had in the previous match.

“We are maintaining and building some momentum now. Performances have been strong as well as results in recent weeks. We need to maintain that because other teams are doing that as well. We are not the only ones. We need to recognise that, so