ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Arsenal 4

West Ham 1

LONDON • Arsenal scored three goals in the final eight minutes as manager Arsene Wenger marked his penultimate home Premier League match in charge with a crushing 4-1 win over West Ham United in a London derby at the Emirates Stadium yesterday.

Wenger's decision to bring his 22-year reign to a close at the end of the season still was not enough to tempt many Arsenal fans back to their home ground.

In his programme notes, the Frenchman reiterated his plea for the fans to get behind the team for the rest of the season with Arsenal still in with a chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League via the Europa League.

But there were only sporadic chants of "there's only one Arsene Wenger" from the home support after some goading from the visiting West Ham fans.

Wenger, however, was still appreciative of the warm applause he received from his die-hard fans.

"It's nice. You want your fans to be happy and if I can be happy sometimes, it's good as well! Overall if you can combine both… I'm ready to suffer to make them happy but, if sometimes I'm happy as well, it's not bad."

Defender Nacho Monreal put Arsenal ahead six minutes into the second half when he fired low past Joe Hart at a corner to bring the match to life after a dull first half.

Marko Arnautovic equalised 13 minutes later when substitute midfielder Manuel Lanzini fed him on the left and the striker shot past the diving David Ospina.

Aaron Ramsey put Arsenal ahead again in the 82nd when a mistake in the Hammers' defence allowed his effort to sail into the far side of Hart's net and Alexandre Lacazette added the third and fourth goals.

"We took a bit of time to get going. I don't want to make excuses, we weren't quite at it," Welshman Ramsey told Sky Sports.

"It was important we put it right in the second half. I'm delighted on a personal note to score - and more importantly get the three points."

Hart had previously kept West Ham in the match with diving saves against Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck, but Arsenal climbed within six points of fifth-placed Chelsea on 57 while West Ham remain in relegation trouble, six points above the drop zone on 35.

Asked about Wenger's departure, Ramsey said: "It's really tough to take by the group of lads. He's believed in us and given us all these opportunities over the years.

"We're not thinking about who's coming in next - it's about doing it for him. Winning the Europa League would be a perfect send-off for him."

Arsenal's only route back into the Champions League next season is blocked by formidable opponents in the form of Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals. The first leg of that fixture is on Thursday at home.

Asked if the win is a good warm-up for the first leg, Wenger added: "Yeah, apart from the fact we lost (Mohamed) Elneny today. It doesn't look good on his ankle. We didn't have (Jack) Wilshere or (Mesut) Ozil available today."

The Gunners boss was also asked if he would return to Arsenal in some other capacity in the future.

"I don't know, that doesn't depend on me. I feel I created a knowledge and a history for this club," he said. "If you look at the number of Premier League games we've played together, the number of European and FA Cup games we've played together, we've built a solid foundation on the structural front.

"If you look at what it was when I arrived and what it is today, I think we've gone a good way together."

Elsewhere, Stoke missed the chance to give their hopes of survival a major boost when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Burnley.

Badou Ndiaye gave Stoke the lead but Burnley levelled thanks to Ashley Barnes, his sixth goal in his last eight league games.

REUTERS