Arsenal vs. West Ham United: Final score 5-1 as Gunners obliterate Hammers

Arsenal bounced back from a poor performance at Stamford Bridge last weekend to annihilate West Ham United 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

An ultimately one-sided match looked vaguely interesting early on when Jack Collison took a badly-cleared corner down on his thigh and lashed the effort past Wojciech Szczesny, but Arsenal quickly replied through Lukas Podolski, who took advantage of some horrendously slack defending by the Hammers to smash home a delightful left-footed effort in the 22nd minute.

If the home support was disappointed to enter the break level, a flurry of goals early in the second half would have cheered them up rather quickly. Olivier Giroud netted twice and Theo Walcott provided a neat finish, but the pick of the bunch was Arsenal's third, which came after a lovely flowing move that culminated in Podolski squaring across the face of the goal for Santi Cazorla to backheel home.

It was a stunning demonstration of what the Gunners are capable of in full flow, and the only blemish on the rest of the match was West Ham defender Daniel Potts coming off the pitch with a severe head injury. Other than that, it was a banner day for the hosts.