Arsenal roast West Ham to remain in touching distance of top spot

 

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West Ham 0 Arsenal 6

Premier League

Sunday 11th February 2024 2pm

Against Palace, Arsenal won 5-0 without having to play that well. At West Ham yesterday, once again the opposition were poor, but on the back of an excellent performance against Liverpool, Mikel Arteta’s team were in top form and might have scored more than the six they did. Once Declan Rice had scored the final goal of the game, the Gunners’ manager took off the scorer, Saka and Trossard and no further damage was done to distress the Hammers’ fans that did remain in the stadium until the final whistle.

Jorginho and Zinchenko were the players replaced from the win a week before, the latter injured. Trossard and Kiwior came in, the Belgian as the central striker with Havertz playing deeper. Trossard had two of his side’s best chances before the scoring opened after half an hour had been played. It was one way traffic with Arsenal creating all the danger.

Their set pieces are getting better and better. Declan Rice is the man taking them from the left wing now and his delivery is often pinpoint. From a corner, he found Saliba at the back post, and his header put his team ahead. It was a surprise to see the home side’s poor defending of such a situation, but it symbolised the lacklustre nature of David Moyes’ players throughout the game. Having been reluctant to foray forward in numbers, you expected more from them once they went behind, but the following 20 minutes before the referee blew for half-time saw them completely collapse.

Saka broke the offside trap to win a penalty, and memories went back to the end of last season and his miss at this ground when his team were 2-1 ahead. This time, no mistake as the number 7 exorcised any demons he might have had and doubled the lead. Arsenal’s opener was an old school style goal and the third was similar, although this time Rice floated a free kick onto Gabriel’s head – he could hardly miss given the lack of challenge from Areola in the West Ham goal. Hammers fans started streaming for their half time drinks, but some decided to keep going and exit the stadium before the second half, as the visitors scored yet another. This time it was Trossard with all the space in the world after having been teed up by Odegaard. The home side’s defence were as non-existent as many of their fans by this point.