Easy as 1-2-3 for Sanchez

Five-star Gunners tear Hammers apart

FOR the briefest of moments in the second half, West Ham stirred. They were a goal down but they were going at Arsenal, Dimitri Payet was in the game for the first time and the home crowd were out of their seats, urging them on.

At Upton Park this would have been a test of bottle for any visiting team. Here in this spacious Olympic home, Arsene Wenger simply reorganised a little, made a change and watched his team score four in 14 minutes as Arsenal ran riot.

Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain curled in a delicious goal to cap his fine performance. Mesut Ozil had opened the scoring in the first-half.

Andy Carroll came off the bench to peg the score back to 3-1 but to no avail. The pattern was set and the stadium of course is not to blame.

West Ham were outplayed on the pitch regardless of their surroundings and the remoteness of their supporters but it doesn’t help on these days when the best teams in the country are in town.

Victory for Arsenal, unbeaten in 13 in the Premier League, hoists them to second behind Chelsea. Defeat leaves West Ham and manager Slaven Bilic in trouble, just a point above the relegation places, with injuries piling up and a trip to Liverpool next.

The morale boost of a point at Manchester United had been erased by the time West Ham returned to Old Trafford four days later, leaked four goals, crashed out of the EFL Cup and lost key players to injury.

Diafra Sakho, Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate were all absent yesterday and James Collins appeared to pull a muscle in his calf within four minutes, tried to soldier on but was soon replaced and West Ham were all over the place at the back.

Arsenal revelled in the open spaces and one pass after another was threaded between the three central defenders and the wing-backs, especially on West Ham’s right where Alvaro Arbeloa, on for Collins, and Edimilson Fernandes performed as if they had never met.

Three times Nacho Monreal cut through without finding a teammate in front of goal.

Like their hosts, Arsenal had arrived nursing bruises from an EFL Cup exit but Wenger was able to make nine changes and improve his side, despite his own team’s injury problems, and they looked sharper as they dominated the opening phase.

West Ham barely made it out of their own half but had the chance to take the lead when they sprang out of defence in the 18th minute and Manuel Lanzini forced a save from Petr Cech.

It may have lulled them into thinking the worst had passed because soon they were behind after a careless mistake by centre-half Angelo Ogbonna, who dwelt on the ball until he was dispossessed by Francis Coquelin. Sanchez pounced as the ball spilled free, skipped around Winston Reid and pulled a pass square to present Ozil with the simple task of tapping into an open goal. Arsenal squandered more chances. Oxlade-Chamberlain sliced one shot across goal after again darting through the porous West Ham back-line. He then released Sanchez, who accelerated clear but lost control as he tried to dribble around goalkeeper Darren Randolph. West Ham improved after the interval and were at their best when going forward.

Payet has not lost the ability to generate a ripple of anticipation when he is on the ball and threatens when he addresses a free-kick but he is not the inspiration he was last season.

The closest the Hammers came to an equaliser in the first half was when Pedro Obiang headed over from a cross by Ashley Fletcher. These occasional flurries fuelled hope as long as Arsenal failed to extend the lead.

Fletcher fired wide from the edge of the penalty box but they were vulnerable at the other end. Theo Walcott headed over from a free-

26 West Ham have lost 26 times vs Arsenal in the Premier League, more than any other opponent

kick delivered by Ozil and then lashed another chance wide after being released by the fancy footwork of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sanchez.

But this was the moment if West Ham were to salvage something from the game. At Upton Park the crowd would roar them on and the away team’s nerve would be tested. Here the players are insulated from passion in the stands. It is easier to regroup and Arsenal did.

Randolph made a fabulous double save to deny Aaron Ramsey and Ozil, both from close range but the goalkeeper could not prevent Sanchez from driving the second, low into the far corner after muscling his way past Arthur Masuaku. Carroll, scourge of Arsenal in the past, was on the touchline, ready to come on when Sanchez scored his first. On he came, and scored, turning in the rebound after a Payet free-kick rattled the woodwork, but it was lost by this point.

Sanchez had already grabbed his second, another low finish beyond the reach of Randolph from the edge of the area.

There would be no Carroll-inspired comeback. Oxlade-Chamberlain whipped in Arsenal’s fourth, a goal he deserved and Sanchez completed his hat-trick, dummying before lifting a shot cheekily over the so poorly protected Randolph.