Gunners hammer West Ham 6-0
A RECORD win for Arsenal. An absolutely critical one for Manchester United.
After Arsenal hammered West Ham 6-0 on Sunday for its biggest-ever Premier League away victory, United beat Aston Villa 2-1 in a huge result in the race for Champions League qualification.
Arsenal might be in their best form so far this season. Last weekend, Mikel Arteta’s team handed league leaders Liverpool only their second loss to tighten up the title race, and here they were running amok inside the Olympic Stadium, which rapidly emptied after West Ham fell 4-0 behind just before half-time.
Bukayo Saka scored twice and Declan Rice – a former West Ham favourite – added the sixth goal almost apologetically.
Arsenal joined Manchester City just two points behind Liverpool. All three of the big title contenders won at the weekend.
United’s aspirations are simply to finish in the top four – or five – to get back into the Champions League, and that would have been a long shot had the visitors lost at Villa Park.
Instead, there are only five points – rather than 11 – between United in sixth and Villa in fifth after Scott McTominay headed in an 86th-minute winner to earn his team a third straight league victory. Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring for United and has now netted in five straight league matches.
RICE’S RETURN
Disgruntled West Ham’s fans streamed out of their ground in their hundreds prior to the halftime whistle, well before their former star player condemned the team to their joint-heaviest loss of all time.
It just had to be Rice running onto the ball and curling a longrange strike into the top corner to put the seal on an almost embarrassingly easy win for Arsenal.
Rice used to be West Ham’s best player, with his relentless energy, lung-busting runs and covering tackles. Now here he was, playing a big part in a clinic by Arsenal, with the home supporters’ booing of his every touch maybe spurring him on.
Rice’s set-piece deliveries set up first-half goals for William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, with Saka and Leandro Trossard also scoring before the break. After Saka’s second, Rice scored and didn’t even celebrate, holding up both of his hands apologetically instead. He was even applauded by some home supporters when he was substituted moments later.
“I’m really happy with him,” Arteta said of Rice. “I know that it was an emotional day for him because he loves West Ham so much. But he had to focus on the task and what he had to deliver – set pieces were one of those.”
VILLA STRUGGLING
Villa’s once-impregnable home record underpinned the team’s improbably strong start to the season. It wasn’t long ago that Villa were beating City and Arsenal in the space of 72 hours to set a club record of 15 straight home wins in the league and sit just two points behind first-place Liverpool.
Now Villa have lost three home games in a row – to Newcastle, Chelsea and now Man United – and are looking over their shoulder.
The hosts created enough chances to win but lacked the ruthlessness displayed by United,
“We are not where we want to be in the league,” United defender Harry Maguire said. “It’s been a tough season, so we knew we needed to come here and get the three points.”