Declan Rice scored his first goal of the season before Bukayo Saka added a second as Arsenal comfortably beat West Ham in manager Mikel Arteta’s 300th game in charge.

Arsenal have had an excellent start to the season losing just one game and Arteta looked to ensure that continued with his attacking selection.

The Arsenal manager named a midfield three of Rice, Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze as he utilised the options in his squad after a £250m spend in the summer.

However, that trio did not last long with Odegaard having to go off with an injury, the third Premier League home game in a row that he has been withdrawn early.

Rice was then pushed into a more advanced role as Martin Zubimendi was brought on and the former West Ham midfielder was on hand to finish smartly after Eze’s shot was pushed back into the area by Alphonse Areola.

Arsenal dominated the majority of the game with West Ham restricted to speculative efforts whenever they got the rare chance to attack.

The Gunners sealed the win in the second half when Jurrien Timber was brought down by El Hadji Malick Diouf and Saka slotted the penalty confidently into the corner.

It was ’ great way for Saka to mark his 200th Premier League appearance and means that his impressive record now stands at 55 goals and 45 assists.

The win moves Arsenal to the top of the Premier League, supplanting Liverpool prior to their match against Chelsea later on Saturday.

Arteta ‘grateful’ & ‘proud’ after marking 300th game with victory

Mikel Arteta has been criticised at times for his conservative team selection but there was no possibility of that happening today.

Arteta may not have been able to see how his midfield selection would have played out after Odegaard’s withdrawal 30 minutes into the game, but his pre-match choices show the mentality at Arsenal this season.

Riccardo Calafiori, was given license to come into midfield alongside the deep-lying Rice to allow Eze and Odegaard to push further up the pitch.

This continued when the excellent Zubimendi was introduced and two of his forward passes played a big part in the Arsenal goals.

Rice showed with his goal why the transition from a number six to a number eight has been made. His running power and ability to time his runs to get on the end of balls was shown with his goal.

Arteta was also able to bring on Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino, highlighting squad strength that has been key to his side’s positive start to this season.

Nuno ‘working on basics’ in West Ham reset

Nuno Espirito Santo may be without a win in his first two games in charge but there are positive signs of progress that West Ham can look to.

Despite having beaten Arsenal twice in their last two visits to north London, it was always going to be a big task for West Ham to take anything here, let alone the win.

The West Ham boss set his team up in an organised 4-2-3-1 formation and the former Nottingham Forest manager could be seen sending instructions out from his technical area as he tried to fine tune the strategy.

Niclas Fullkrug had an effort from a corner and Lucas Paqueta shot over as West Ham attempted to cause an upset in the first half.

Ultimately, the Hammers were outclassed but with more time on the training pitch Nuno looks like he will be able to move his team up the table. (BBC)

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