Arsenal thump West Ham with five-star show to go second

LONDON :Resurgent Arsenal romped to a 5-2 victory at capital rivals West Ham United in Saturday's Premier League derby with all seven goals coming in a mind-boggling first half in the evening kickoff at the London Stadium.

Gabriel's trademark ninth-minute header opened the floodgates and Arsenal ran riot, with Leandro Trossard tapping in after 26 minutes before Martin Odegaard's penalty and Kai Havertz's cool finish in the space of a minute sent some home fans heading for the exits.

Incredibly, West Ham responded almost immediately with Aaron Wan-Bissaka slotting home before a stunning free kick by Emerson offered hope of an unlikely comeback.

But Arsenal were awarded a second penalty of the game in first-half stoppage and this time Bukayo Saka stepped up to dispatch his spot kick past Lukasz Fabianski.

By comparison the second half was something of an anti-climax as Arsenal cruised to the win that moved them up to second in the table with 25 points, six behind leaders Liverpool who host struggling champions Manchester City on Sunday.

Arsenal have now scored 13 goals in their last three games as they return to form in spectacular fashion after a slump which had some writing off their title chances.

For the second season running they went to West Ham and dished out a humiliation. Last year they won 6-0 and the way they began on Saturday they looked like surpassing that.

As it was, all the fireworks arrived before halftime and they ended in cruise control with West Ham's Danny Ings even going close to salvaging some more home pride late on.

It was only the fourth time in a Premier League match that seven goals had been scored in the first period, the last occasion being Reading against Manchester United in 2012.

While Arsenal