Saka stars in Arsenal’s demolition at West Ham as Van Nistelrooy watches new side Leicester lose

Inspired by Bukayo Saka, Arsenal scored five goals in a frantic first half against West Ham before settling for a 5-2 win that lifted them into second place in the English Premier League as they chase Liverpool.

Saka was one of Arsenal’s five scorers at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday and also had a hand in three goals from Gabriel, Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard. Kai Havertz scored another goal for Arsenal in their biggest league win this season.

Since returning from the international break, Arsenal have beaten Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Premier League, Sporting Lisbon 5-1 in the Champions League and scored a further five goals against West Ham. The performance coincided with a return to fitness for Odegaard, Arsenal’s playmaker and captain, who had been out for two months with an ankle injury.

Arsenal have reduced the gap to Liverpool to six points ahead of the leader’s home match against Liverpool. besieged Manchester City on Sunday. Arsenal have beaten City in each of the last two seasons but may be lacking. Pep Guardiola Our team will win at Anfield.

Saka, in particular, benefits from Odegaard’s presence. The England striker already has 10 assists for the season (he played 12 of Arsenal’s 13 games) and five goals.

“I get a lot of pleasure from creating and scoring goals, but the biggest pleasure is winning,” Saka said. “Let’s keep this form. Definitely the last three games we came back.”

All goals in the match were scored in the first half. This is only the fourth time since the Premier League’s inception in 1992 that there have been seven goals scored in a game before half-time.

Van Nistelrooy problem

The day after I was hired as Leicester managerRuud van Nistelrooy has seen first-hand the scale of his task to keep his team in the Premier League.

Leicester were beaten 4-1 by Brentford on Saturday, with Van Nistelrooy in the stands rather than on the bench. He will officially take over as coach on Sunday after taking over the team. fired Steve Cooper.

Kevin Schade completed a hat-trick and Yoan Vissa also scored for Brentford, who should have scored from behind after Facunda Buonanotte’s opener in the 21st minute.

Van Nistelrooy, a former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker, will begin his first full-time managerial job in English football with Leicester sitting 16th in the 20-team league and just one point above the relegation zone.

“We only got word last night (from Van Nistelrooy) when the appointment was made,” said Leicester first-team coach Ben Dawson, who was in charge against Brentford. “He wished everyone good luck and the plan is to catch tomorrow at the training ground.

Penalty record

Some history happened when Justin Kluivert converted trio of penalties – in the third, 18th and 74th minutes – for Bournemouth in a 4-2 victory over Wolverhampton. This has never been achieved before in a championship match.

Kluivert said it was “amazing” to make it into the history books but was almost denied the opportunity.

“I wasn’t entirely sure about letting him take the third ball,” said Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola. “I guess it’s difficult: every time you shoot first, you give information to the goalkeeper.”

Evanilson won each of Kluivert’s three penalties, also his first in the Premier League.

Double Strike

Newcastle lost Swedish striker Alexander Isak to a thigh injury midway through the first half and then led in the fourth minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

Daniel Munoz scored a late equalizer to lift Palace out of the bottom three on goal difference.

“It’s an absolutely devastating blow for us,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said of the late goal being disallowed.

Speaking about Isak, Howe added: “It was a contact injury and not a muscle strain, which is good news for us. We hope he recovers quickly.”

Chris Wood slotted the penalty down the middle for his ninth goal of the season to give Nottingham Forest a 1-0 home win over Ipswich.

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Steve Douglas is here https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer