Irish Daily Mirror

ROUTSTAN Mass walk-out from Hammers fans as rampant Gunners

- BY JOHN CROSS Chief Football Writer @johncrossm­irror

YOU really have never seen anything like it.

It was Arsenal’s biggest ever away win in the Premier League, West Ham fans had left in their thousands by half-time and surely even the celebratio­n police would forgive the visitors enjoying this one.

Bukayo Saka scored a brilliant double, exorcised some ghosts of last season and Declan Rice then got the best goal of the lot and did not celebrate out of respect for his old club.

The England internatio­nal need not have worried – by the time he got Arsenal’s sixth goal, most of the West Ham fans had left anyway.

They departed in their thousands even by the break, leaving the stadium half-empty for much of the second half.

It was West Ham’s joint-biggest home defeat and is the sort of humiliatio­n which get managers the sack.

There should be no question of that with David Moyes but, at a time when the debate is raging about whether he will get a new contract, it will hurt him deeply.

Because as good as Arsenal were, West Ham were woeful.

Incredibly, if Arsenal had got one more goal then it would have pushed them up to second place as their goal difference would have overhauled Manchester City.

But no one should doubt now that Mikel Arteta’s men are bang in the title race, pushing Liverpool and City all the way. Last week, Arsenal beat the

Merseyside­rs at the Emirates and this week they backed it up with a stunning win to make everyone sit up and take notice.

They have not always been at those levels this season, but this win felt like a return to the fun of last year when they were great to watch and one of the League’s big entertaine­rs.

It was Arsenal’s biggest away win in the Premier League era.

Their fourth goal – scored by Leandro Trossard – was also their 8,000th League goal and Saka’s first took him to 50 goals. At 21, he is Arsenal’s youngest

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