3 standout players from Arsenal's dominant home win against West Ham

Arsenal welcomed West Ham to the Emirates knowing that victory would be enough to lift the Gunners to the top of the Premier League for the first time this season, one point ahead of Liverpool who travel to Chelsea later on Saturday evening.

Bukayo Saka made his 200th Premier League appearance for Arsenal in a team which had five changes from the Gunners midweek Champions League victory at home to Olympiacos.

In came Jurriën Timber at right back as Ben White returned to the bench. On the left, Riccardo Calafiori, arguably one of Arsenal's players of the season so far, came in for Myles Lewis-Skelly who started against Olympiacos.

In midfield, Mikel Arteta released the handbrake somewhat by leaving Martin Zubimendi on the bench. Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze made up an exciting midfield trio.

Bukayo Saka came back in on the right side of the forward line, replacing Gabriel Martinelli who dropped to the bench. Leandro Trossard continued on the left with Viktor Gyökeres through the middle.

Declan Rice scores against his former club

Arsenal were frustrated by a West Ham side who were content to sit in and try and hit the Gunners on the counter attack in the first-half.

Despite losing Martin Ødegaard to a knee injury on the half-hour, Arsenal were still able to control the game and create chances against a well organised though negative Hammers side.

Declan Rice opened the scoring after 38 minutes when he latched on to an Areola save from Eze and lashed his half-volley high into the West Ham net to send the Gunners in with a half-time lead.

Saka puts the matter beyond doubt from the spot

Arsenal dominated possession throughout the second half and kept West Ham comfortably at arms length.

When Jurriën Timber burst into the box with less than half an hour remaining, he was brought down by El Hadji Malick Diouf. Referee, John Brooks had no hesitation in pointing to the spot despite the initial contact being made outside of the penalty area.

Saka dispatched a brilliantly executed penalty into the bottom corner with power and accuracy to celebrate his 200th game for Arsenal in the Premier League with a goal.

Arsenal controlled possession for the remainder of the game. West Ham failed to have a single shot on target as Arsenal barely got out of first gear. Here are our three standouts from Arsenal's comfortable win.

1. Jurriën Timber

Narrowly beaten by Declan Rice to the player of the match award, Timber's performance today was outstanding.

Timber's energy enabled him to get forward often during attacking transitions. As a result, he had two shots himself before going down under pressure to earn his side a penalty in the second half.

Defensively, Timber's pace, strength and agility made him difficut to get past. The Arsenal full back won eight out of twelve ground duels.

Timber may well be the best full-back in the Premier League on current form and it will be important to keep him fit if Arsenal are going to challenge on multiple fronts this season.

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