LONDON: Arsenal powered into second place in the Premier League with a blistering 5-2 win against West Ham that breathed fresh life into their title challenge.
Mikel Arteta’s side ran riot in the first half at the London Stadium, scoring five times to move six points behind leaders Liverpool, who host spluttering champions Manchester City on Sunday.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson struck in quick succession for West Ham, but Bukayo Saka’s penalty capped a virtuoso performance from the Arsenal forward.
The Gunners’ title hopes were badly damaged by a run of four league games without a win prior to beating Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Arteta admitted this week that Arsenal must be almost perfect to catch Liverpool.
And, following their 5-1 thrashing of Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday, this was further evidence that, while Arteta’s team might not be perfect yet, they are undoubtedly back on track.
Chasing a first title since 2004, Arsenal have been revitalised by the return of captain Martin Odegaard, who was sidelined for 12 matches in all competitions with an ankle injury.
Since the Norway midfielder was restored to the starting line-up, Arsenal have gone unbeaten in four successive games, with Manchester United due to visit the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Rampant Arsenal
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Arsenal won 6-0 on their previous visit to the London Stadium in February and once again they were unstoppable in Stratford.
The visitors struck again in the 27th minute, with Saka and Odegaard linking superbly in midfield before the former’s pass was slotted home by Trossard from close range.
Rampant Arsenal were carving open the hosts’ defence at will and it was no surprise when they netted again seven minutes later.
Lucas Paqueta tripped Saka in the area and Odegaard stepped up to stroke in the spot-kick for his first goal since April.
With West Ham in disarray and shell-shocked fans already heading to the exits, Havertz piled on the misery in the 36th minute.
Wan-Bissaka punctured Arsenal’s momentum in the 38th minute, breaking into the area and drilling past David Raya from Carlos Soler’s pass.
Two minutes later, Arteta wore a furious expression after West Ham left-back Emerson bent a fine free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards.
Deep into first half stoppage-time, Fabianski accidently punched Gabriel in the head as they challenged for a corner, conceding a penalty that Saka squeezed past the Pole’s weak attempted save.
The combined seven goals equalled the record for the most in the first half of a Premier League game.
After Gabriel was forced off at the interval, Arteta’s only concern in the second half was avoiding any more injuries as Saka, Odegaard and Trossard all played on despite being on the receiving end of crunching tackles.
