Declan Rice has marked his return to former membership West Ham by scoring a superb long-range strike and establishing two first-half objectives in Arsenal’s 6-0 win within the Premier League that noticed Bukayo Saka achieve some redemption.
Rice was jeered relentlessly by many West Ham followers clearly nonetheless sad that he selected to maneuver to Arsenal for a reported Stg 105 million ($A203 million) in July.
By the point he was substituted within the 67th minutes of Sunday’s conflict, the England midfielder had helped to sentence his first membership to one in all its worst-ever losses.
West Ham conceded 4 occasions in a 10-minute spell earlier than halftime, with Rice’s set-piece deliveries aiding headed objectives by Arsenal centre backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
Residence followers have been seen leaving the Olympic Stadium within the a whole lot earlier than the halftime whistle.
Saka had been one other of the first-half scorers, together with Leandro Trossard, and the England winger added the fifth within the 63rd minute.
Saka’s final look at West Ham noticed him miss a penalty, when Arsenal have been main 2-1, in a expensive 2-2 draw that sparked the crew’s end-of-season implosion and led to Manchester Metropolis retaining the league title.
He obtained dreadful racist abuse after that spot-kick failure, too.
Rice delivered the ultimate blow by curling in a shot from 25m, to which he responded by holding up his fingers in a sign that he wasn’t celebrating the purpose.
He was virtually instantly substituted — and even obtained some applause from the West Ham followers nonetheless within the floor.
The resounding win got here a day after victories for title rivals Liverpool and Man Metropolis, and massively improved the purpose distinction of Mikel Arteta’s crew.
Arsenal are third, behind second-placed Metropolis solely on objectives scored, and two factors adrift of Liverpool.
