Arsenal defeated West Ham 6-0 at the London Stadium thanks to a long-range goal by Declan Rice, which sealed an incredible victory that kept Arsenal two points behind champions Liverpool.
After two losses to West Ham earlier in the season, the match was expected to be difficult for Mikel Arteta’s team. However, the hosts totally gave up, with four goals in the opening 15 minutes of the match sending many supporters running for the exits.
The game started with a header from William Saliba from a corner kick by Rice. Bukayo Saka then added a second goal from the penalty spot, and then Gabriel Magalhaes headed home another Rice set-piece and Leandro Trossard scored a fantastic fourth.
In the second half, Arsenal put two more goals past the hopeless hosts in as many minutes. Saka took advantage of the stagnant defence to finish at the near post, and Rice’s incredible curler from 25 yards out finished the demolition.
Arsenal boss Mikel”I’m extremely happy. The way we performed, the way we played. Such a big score in a really difficult place tells you a lot about how well the boys played today.
“It’s great to make [club] history especially the way we have done it. We’re in a good moment and we you have good moments you have to build and maintain the momentum. The team from the beginning looked really sharp. We had to put right the last two results against them and that was a good motivation for the boys.”
Meanwhile West Ham manager David Moyes said:
“Yes, it certainly is [up there as one of the most disappointing days as manager of West Ham]. It’s one of those days which you don’t want to happen very often, and it happened today.
“It’s not been like my teams in the past. I’ll take a bit of time and look at it and see if I can fix it. I take the responsibility, I pick the team but the players have to take responsibility too.
“It’s really important we do those jobs really well. We will always try to be as well organised as we can be. Arsenal were very good – we mustn’t take that away. We weren’t good.
“I’m a football supporter. I understand that [fans leaving early]. I don’t think the direction the club is heading in is the wrong direction. It’s grown greatly since we came in. We were fighting relegation. We’re not fighting relegation today.
“We were playing one of the top teams in the country who we took three points off earlier in the season so I have to say the club is in a really good place. We’ve had setbacks through the season and we’ll try and come back from this one the best we can.”
West Ham travel to Nottingham Forest next on Saturday, while Arsenal travel to Burnley on the same day.
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