DAILY MAIL 🔵 West Ham 2-5 Arsenal: Gunners run riot in breathless SEVEN-GOAL first half at the London Stadium… as Mikel Arteta’s side make a statement in the title race

This Saturday night siege was brought to you courtesy of a merciless Arsenal attacking onslaught. But also, with a dose of some pitiful West Ham defending.

Arsenal, whose four game winless run in the Premier League had all and sundry writing off their title credentials, are back.

What a difference a week makes, eh? Three wins and 13 goals has breathed life into a season that appeared to be suffocating as they look to haul down runaway leaders Liverpool and wrestle the title away from Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta knows his side still have a proverbial mountain to scale.

But the last seven days will have offered the Gunners boss genuine belief that reaching the summit is possible – the gaps to Arne Slot’s side down to six points for the time being.

Such lofty ambitions are the least of Julen Lopetegui’s concerns right now; the bubble of optimism spawned from Monday’s excellent win at Newcastle popped with this chastening.

Positioned in the Hammers boardroom as he served a touchline suspension, the Spaniard cut a shellshocked figure as Arsenal ran riot in a blistering 45 minute spell.

It was a performance that will do nothing for those at the London Stadium who fear appointing Lopetegui as David Moyes’ successor was a mistake.

You’d imagine the forthcoming fixtures against Leicester, Wolves and Bournemouth will shape the opinions of those who truly matter in these part of east London.

To make a decision after this harrowing experience against one of European football’s finest would, perhaps, be harsh.

But this is the Premier League. It’s cut throat. Just ask Arteta, who was having to deal with negativity of his own just a few weeks ago.

That period must a seem a distant, albeit painful, memory for Arteta right now.

His Arsenal side were incredibly good here. By the time any of us could catch our breath the Gunners were 4-0 up, the natives were streaming out before half-time and you wondered whether Lopetegui would survive the match, let alone Tuesday’s visit to Leicester.

Gabriel Magalhaes, a doubt for the game, was first on the act in the 10th minute, glancing home a header from Bukayo Saka’s inswinging corner in what was another clear success from Arsenal set-piece coach Nicholas Jover’s coveted playbook.

Michail Antonio hardly covered himself in glory, losing the Brazilian’s run from the back post. But the West Ham striker isn’t the first to be made to look silly by Arsenal’s consistent brilliance from dead situations. He won’t be the last either.

It was no more than Arsenal deserved. Their start was confident and controlled, Gabriel’s opener simply the inevitable icing on the cake.

Crycensio Summerville thought he’d responded with a sweet finish of his own, cooly lifting over goalkeeper David Raya following some rare slackness in Arsenal’s midfield, but the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside.

Jurrien Timber nearly caught West Ham out with a near identical set-piece to the one that provided the basis of Arsenal going ahead but the Dutchman’s header was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

However, the West Ham keeper was about to be caught in an unrelenting blitz as Arsenal stormed to a four-goal advantage.

Martin Odegaard’s return to fitness has reinvigorated an Arsenal team that looked devoid of ideas without him.

His latest flash of brilliance, a sublime scooped pass to unlock West Ham’s offside trap, was worth the entrance fee alone.

Saka collected before squaring to Leandro Trossard, who tapped home to double Arsenal’s advantage.

If Arsenal are to overhaul Liverpool then Saka and Odegaard will be at the heart of it all.

Here, again, the pair were untouchable. Saka was scythed down by Lucas Paqueta moments later, leading to Martin Odegaard putting Arsenal three-up from the spot before Max Kilman missed clearance from Trossard’s pass allowed Kai Havertz to make it four.

By this point, West Ham fans were leaving in their droves. They’d seen enough. Maybe. But those who headed for the exit hadn’t seen it all as a frantic first-half took twist after twist after twist.

Credit to the Hammers, first Aaron Wan-Bissaka cooly slotted past Raya before Emerson Palmieri stroked home a beautifully arcing free kick that cannoned off the bottom of the crossbar in the 41st minute to somehow halve Arsenal’s lead before half time.

Those who’d rushed for the gates were, at this point, probably trying to persuade stadium staff to let them back in.

Though, the awarding of a second Arsenal penalty when Fabianski was penalised for catching Magalhaes with a flying fist when missing his punch in trying to divert another Saka corner may have seen them turn back around.

This time it was Saka who took on the responsibility to smoke home the seventh goal of a relentless first-half.

Conceding those two quickfire goals had certainly taken the gloss of what was a first-half display bursting with brilliance from the Gunners.

Yet, the gulf in the two sides was clear as day, or certainly as clear as the three goal chasm that had opened.

Lopetegui, sat alongside technical director Tim Steidten, would have felt powerless. With earpiece in situ, no amount of instruction down to the bench would have stemmed this ferocious Arsenal tide.

Fair play to West Ham, they didn’t down tools in the second half and they could have added further respectability to the scoreline had Danny Ings not missed an open goal in injury time.

But by that point Arsenal were coasting, Arteta having the luxury to take off Odegaard and Saka.

Arteta will enjoy his Sunday watching his team’s title rivals go toe-to-toe. Lopetegui…not so much.