Arsenal maintains winning form wallops West Ham 5-2….now second in EPL table

Arsenal switched on the style to dismantle West Ham at the London Stadium in a 5-2 victory that they will hope can reignite their Premier League title hopes.

A Gabriel header from a corner after 10 minutes started a sequence of seven goals in the first half. Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz also scored from open play with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka adding two more goals from the penalty spot.

An Aaron Wan-Bissaka goal and a wonderful free kick from Emerson reduced the arrears for the home side, but Arsenal cruised to the win in the second half and sit six points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, who face Manchester City tomorrow.

Here Jordan Campbell breaks down the key parts of the Arsenal win.

Gabriel’s corner kickstarts goal-fest
In the opening 10 minutes, it did not look like a game destined to explode into a goal fest as West Ham tried to restrict Arsenal’s possession.

But that is why Arsenal’s prowess at set pieces can be so disarming.

A Bukayo Saka delivery was glanced into the net by Gabriel, who scored his fourth of the season. It opened the floodgates.

It was the 20th time Arsenal have scored the first goal of the game from a corner since Nicolas Jover was appointed as set-piece coach in July 2021. It means 24 per cent of their 83 league victories in that period have started this way.