Mikel Arteta confirms Emile Smith Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu injury setbacks
The visitors to the London Stadium were bidding to avoid suffering three successive defeats to a West Ham side whom they had already fallen short against twice this season, including a 2-0 Emirates loss in December.
However, David Moyes's side were a shadow of their former selves in the capital, where a merciless Arsenal crop recorded their largest-ever Premier League away win and biggest league victory on the road in their history.
Bukayo Saka's brace, Leandro Trossard's curler, Declan Rice's stunner and a pair of headers from Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba saw Arteta's troops demolish the Europa Conference League champions, in spite of a few unwelcome fitness woes rearing their ugly heads.
As well as long-term trio Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber, Arsenal were without all of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe and Tomiyasu — just back from the Asian Cup — for the London derby.
Zinchenko was known to be carrying a calf injury from last weekend's 3-1 win over Liverpool, where Jesus missed out entirely due to a new knee problem, which did not settle down in time for the trip to the London Stadium.
Smith Rowe's omission from the matchday squad raised fears of yet another concern for the injury-riddled Englishman, whom Arteta confirmed had suffered an ankle injury in training, telling Sky Sports News: «Emile turned his ankle in training so he's not fit to play.»
Arteta did not delve deeper into the severity of Smith Rowe's injury, which represents another cruel setback in the 23-year-old's attempts to return to his best form
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