By the time Alexis Sánchez scuttled through the middle to complete West Ham United’s humiliation and claim his hat-trick with a beautiful dink, Arsenal had produced enough moments of class to underline their title credentials. Their generosity gave West Ham hope. It was difficult to argue when the stadium announcer introduced Marlon Harewood, who scored the winner in this fixture 10 years ago, by joking that “there aren’t many natural goalscorers at West Ham”. West Ham had warmed to their task by that point, threatening when Fletcher turned and fired inches wide from 18 yards, and Arsenal increasingly found themselves playing on the break. The fight drained from West Ham and Sánchez’s second goal, expertly drilled past Randolph from 20 yards in the 80th minute, sparked a mass exodus in the home stands.

Source: The Guardian December 03, 2016 19:42 UTC