People have been crying out to see Arsenal back to their attacking flowing best. Well, at the Emirates Wednesday against West Ham, they were just treated to the some of the most devastating and sumptuous attacking play you will see.
Arsenal ran riot on West Ham in the English Premier League, scoring four goals in ten minutes to hammer the Hammers 5-1 and move to within four points of fourth-placed Tottenham.
A brace from Olivier Giroud along with one each from Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott saw Arsenal put behind their disappointment of the last two Premier League games, after Jack Collison had given the away side an early lead.
Arsenal began on the front foot, with the midfield not having a single defensive player flowing forward in scores as West Ham looked to take advantage of every single setpiece that was on offer.
After a spell of play, which saw some nice bulid-up play from Arsenal, without really threatening Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal, West Ham nearly struck the opener at the other end.
The ball fell kindly to Matthew Taylor just outside the box, with his strike taking a wicked deflection off Ramsey and looping just over the crossbar. Off the ensuing corner, West Ham went ahead.
Giroud placed a weak clearing header straight at Collison on the edge of the area, and the midfielder struck a wonderfully pure shot into the back of the net leaving Wojciech Szczesny with absolutely no chance in the 18th minute.
Arsenal needed to reply and reply quickly and they did just that, with Podolski answering within four minutes with an equally, if not better, left-footed strike of his own from 25 yards.
The Gunners were on the front foot, and looked menacing, playing some pretty football, but failing to find that final and most crucial strike.
Walcott, who was winning the battle on the right against Joey O'Brien, threatened with a run and cross which was well cleared by James Tomkins.
Then Arsenal's best move of the first half nearly produced the second goal, and really should have. Podolski, Kieran Gibbs and Giroud combined brilliantly down the left and a couple of one-touch passes later, Gibbs laid it onto the path of the German forward, but Podolski could just not get enough purchase on his right-footed shot, allowing West Ham to clear off the line.
At the other end, Carlton Cole came close, but saw his effort turned away by an alert Ramsey. Right at the end of the first half, Cazorla forced a brilliant save from Jaaskelainen off a freekick as the Gunners went into the break on the front foot.
In the first 11 minutes of the second half, Arsenal showed exactly why they can still be the most lethal team going forward, carving open West Ham with devastating ease to score four brilliant goals.
First Giroud scored to make it 2-1. Walcott's low corner to the near post was perfectly guided into the back of the net with his left foot by Giroud, leaving Jaaskelainen stranded, with just over a minute gone in the second half.
Then, it was the turn of Cazorla to get in on the act. Some mouthwatering play produced the goal as Wilshere played Podolski on the left, with the German international playing a nice one-two with Giroud, before crossing for deftly Cazorla to flick it into the back of the net with brilliant effect.
Walcott, not one to miss out made it 4-1 in the 54th minute, as another blistering attack from Arsenal left West Ham gasping for breath and answers.
Wilshere, running the game in midfield, played through Podolski, who crossed brilliantly for Walcott to side-foot in past Jaaskelainen.
Arsenal fans were in heaven, seeing their side produce the kind of football expected from them in every game; but the home side were not done.
It was 5-emphatic-1 off a brilliant counter-attack. Wilshere, who else, picked another perfect through ball to Podolski, whose near-post cross was turned in by Giroud - Podolski having a hand in four of Arsenal's five goals.
The game was marred a little bit in the end by a seemingly serious injury to West Ham substitute Danny Potts, but the Gunners will take away not just three points from the game, but that vital confidence for the rest of the season ahead.
