Arsenal thump West Ham to go second, Kluivert bags penalty hat-trick for Bournemouth

LONDON : Back-in-form Arsenal completed a high-scoring day in the Premier League with a 5-2 mauling of West Ham United as they sent out a message of intent to leaders Liverpool on Saturday.

All seven goals arrived before halftime at the London Stadium as Mikel Arteta's side moved up to second in the table with a superb display of attacking football.

They were not the only London club to hit the goal trail on Saturday, with Brentford hammering Leicester City 4-1 to move seventh. Bournemouth won 4-2 at Wolverhampton Wanderers with Justin Kluivert making Premier League history by becoming the first player to score a hat-trick of penalties.

Nottingham Forest returned to winning ways with Chris Wood's penalty enough for a 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town that left them in sixth place in the standings.

Crystal Palace scored late on to secure a useful 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle United and stay out of the bottom three.

Arsenal's title hopes appeared to be in danger of disappearing before Christmas when they went four Premier League games without a win earlier this month but, with captain Martin Odegaard back from injury, they have rebounded in style.

Odegaard and Bukayo Saka were the architects of a resounding Arsenal display which took their goal tally from the last three games to 13. It was only the fourth time a Premier League game had contained seven first-half goals and, despite his joy, Arteta said the head-spinning opening period was a little too exciting.

"It tells you how crazy it was, how efficient both teams were in front of the goal. It was a spectacular 30 minutes," the Spaniard, whose side have 25 points - six behind Liverpool - told reporters.

"I think it was great to score the fifth one as that calmed everything down and