Sanchez treble sinks Hammers

Alexis Sanchez is a key player for Arsenal and proved it yet again with his hat-trick in the 5-1 thrashing of London rivals West Ham.

The Chilean took just 14 minutes to complete his treble in the latter stages of the second half, while Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also got their names onto the scoresheet.

Sanchez could have opened his account earlier in the match had Winston Reid not crucially deflected the ball away from him in the first half.

West Ham also missed the opportunity to score inside the opening 20 minutes when Petr Cech kept out Manuel Lanzini's effort. But Ozil was on hand to make sure it didn't stay goalless for too much longer as the German international broke the deadlock after 24 minutes. Sanchez took advantage of a defensive mistake by the Hammers before squaring the ball to Ozil for a simple tap in.

A combination of good pressing and poor defending forced West Ham into more mistakes, but Arsenal were unable to add to their lead before-half-time. Oxlade-Chamberlain really should have done better when he burst into the box, but his effort went harmlessly out for a throw-in, while Sanchez saw his strike comfortably saved by Darren Randolph.

Arsenal wasted the opportunity to double their advantage within three minutes of the restart as Theo Walcott headed over from Ozil's free-kick.

At the other end, a crucial intervention from Laurent Koscielny prevented a clear effort on goal inside the box before Ashley Fletcher shot just wide soon after.

Randolph produced a great double save to deny Aaron Ramsey and Ozil and keep West Ham in the game. With the score still at 1-0 fans of both sides knew one goal could totally change the game and, 18 minutes from time, the next one flew in. Sanchez doubled Arsenal's advantage with a fine goal as he latched onto Shkodran Mustafi's pass and showed great control to spin past Anthony Makuanu, before beating Randolph with a low strike into the far corner.

The next four goals all came in a manic six-minute spell as Arsenal put the game beyond doubt. Sanchez let the ball bounce before firing a low strike beyond Randolph and into the corner of the net.

Substitute Andy Carroll gave West Ham slim hope of getting back into the game when he headed home the rebound after Dimitri Payet's initial free-kick had hit the crossbar. In the end, that goal proved merely to be a consolation for the Hammers as Arsenal responded almost immediately with Oxlade-Chamberlain's wonderful curling effort.

There was still time for the Gunners to inflict further misery on their London rivals as Sanchez latched onto Oxlade-Chamberlain's pass before beating Randolph with a cheeky chip.

It was an important result for Arsenal, who bounced back to winning ways and moved up to second in the Premier League table. The midweek EFL Cup defeat by Southampton ended the Gunners' 19-game unbeaten run and threatened to derail their campaign. But Arsene Wenger's men remain unbeaten in the league since their defeat by Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season. Liverpool could yet leapfrog us depending on the result of their game against Bournemouth, but that is out of our hands, and at least we've got things back on track with a win.

OPPOSITION VIEW
West Ham fan Alex Saich hit out at his side and believes Carroll should have been introduced into the game far sooner than he was.

"Where do we start with that game, just shocking all over the pitch," said Saich. "I don't mind losing if we show some heart. I've never seen a slower tempo by a West Ham team.

"Then you stand there in the ground watching arsenal attack at such speed you're just in awe of it.

Without (Michail) Antonio and (Aaron) Cresswell we just have a team of sideways passing trying not to be the person to screw it up. So whatever plan A was in the first half was absolute pony, and we're there with Andy Carroll on the bench, we know arsenal can't handle his power and heading ability, and he comes on at 72 mins when it's game over.

"That's about the most I can write, getting annoyed just thinking about it.

"Fair play to Arsenal, serious team of players playing at an amazing speed, and will definitely be challenging, why someone didn't put a stud through Sanchez is beyond me. What a player he is, one of the best I've seen."

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Three points off leaders Chelsea is not too bad and we have definitely given ourselves a chance of challenging for the Premier League title.

But to come away with the big prize in May means we need to be getting more results like we did against West Ham. I don't mean we necessarily have to score five, but we need to be clinical and make it count instead of getting some of the frustrating draws we've had in other games over the last month or so.

Chelsea look in good form and may not slip up too many times, even if we did thump them when they came to the Emirates, but we need to make sure we are ready to pounce when they drop any points. Every game is a cup final so we need to make it count!

Before our next league encounter - the visit of Stoke - we must turn our attentions back to the Champions League and the trip to FC Basel. Although it looks likely that we will finish second in the group there is still a very faint hope of top spot, depending on other results, so there is still technically something to play for in this match and we need to put in a performance of the highest quality.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS