West Ham United have succumbed to a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal in Saturday's Premier League clash at the London Stadium.
Mesut Ozil opened the scoring in the 24th minute as the Gunners proved somewhat wasteful in the first half, but they found their shooting boots after the break, Alexis Sanchez claiming a hat-trick and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain helping himself to a goal.
Andy Carroll's late strike for the Hammers will come as no consolation for Slaven Bilic, who witnessed his side completely capitulate in the final 10 minutes of the game in a result that leaves them teetering precariously over the drop zone.
The Hammers were hampered by an early setback as James Collins injured his hamstring with just five minutes on the clock and had to be replaced by Alvaro Arbeloa, and the substitution appeared to throw the hosts' tactics into disarray.
Arsenal weighed in with chance after chance before breaking the deadlock in the 24th minute when Angelo Ogbonna mistakenly cleared the ball into the path of Sanchez, who skipped past Winston Reid and squared for Ozil to prod past Darren Randolph.
The home side were lucky to reach half time just one goal down, courtesy of some impressive defending from Reid and a number of spurned chances from the Gunners, and indeed, they enjoyed a bright spell after the restart, with Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini and Ashley Fletcher in the thick of the action.
As the second half went on, however, the visitors found their groove again and went on the offensive, and in the 72nd minute, Shkodran Mustafi slid the ball towards Sanchez, who skilfully turned his marker and fired across Randolph inside the far post.
The Chilean's strike marked the beginning of a goal rush, as he scored again in the 80th minute with a clinical low finish from 18 yards, but just three minutes later the Hammers were off the mark thanks to Carroll's close-range header from Payet's woodwork-rebounded free kick.
Any hope of a late West Ham fightback was soon extinguished as the Gunners restored their three-goal lead, courtesy of Oxlade-Chamberlain's fierce drive from 25 yards, and with three minutes to go, Sanchez clinched his hat-trick with an audacious chip over Randolph and into the net.
The result sees the East London side slip to 17th place in the Premier League table, just one point above the relegation zone, while Arsenal climb to second, three points behind leaders Chelsea.
Giuseppe Labellarte
