Arsenal hammer Westham 5 – 1

Arsenal moved second on the English Premier League with a 5 – 1 whitewash of Westham United in a London derby today to keep their title chase alive.
Mesuit Ozil opened scoring on the 24th minute for rampant Arsenal after collecting a square pass from Alexis Sanchez for a simple tap in from close range after despairing goalkeeper Randolph had been displaced. After the goal, it was Arsenal all the way, as Westham appeared to be bereft of attacking ideas.
The Gunners could not score more goals to show for their dominance of the first half. But they continued their dominance in the second half with Sanchez turning the scorer after 76 minutes. He added a second on 80th minute to virtually put the game beyond Westham who appear in disarray and lacking in self belief. Even attempts by Westham’s inspirational player, Dimitri Payet, to unlock Arsenal’s defence failed until Andy Caroll came off the bench to pull a goal back to make the score-line 1 – 3 briefly.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain slotted in Arsenal’s fourth after 84 minutes before Sanchez got his hat-trick   with a chip over the Westham goalkeeper with 4 minutes to go.
Arsenal are second on the league table with 31 points, but could be toppled by Liverpool if the Jurgen Klopp-tutored Anfield giants beat AFC Bournemouth on Sunday in the Vitality Stadium.
In an earlier Premier League match, Chelsea came from a goal down on the stroke of half time to hit 3 past Manchester City in a second half masterful display in the Etihad Stadium. The 1 – 3 score-line inflicted the first league defeat at home on City Manager Pep Guardiola. Chelsea are atop the table with 34 points after 14 games. The Antonio Conte-managed team appears poised to reclaim their title if there is no repeat of the melt-down the Stamford Bridge players suffered last season under Jose Mourinho.