Alexis Sanchez scores hat-trick to demolish sorry Hammers

The Olympic Stadium was built to showcase world-class sport in east London, even if that has not been as apparent as often as intended recently. Last night, though, Alexis Sanchez gave a performance worthy of the stage, scoring the best Premier League hat-trick since the glory days of Luis Suarez.

Three very different goals, each of them brilliant, set up Arsenal’s thumping 5-1 win over a West Ham United side who contributed almost nothing to the occasion. West Ham were so poor, in fact, and made it so easy for Arsenal, that it would likely have been a comfortable away win even had he not been playing.

But this an evening about Sanchez and his explosive brilliance more than it was about anything else. He is as talented as any other footballer in England, but in his third season here, it is fair to ask whether we have seen the best of him yet. Eden Hazard has won the title and the footballer of the year, but Sanchez has won neither. With his Arsenal future still uncertain, there is a risk that he could slip away before showing just how good he can be.

This was exactly that, an exhibition of individual skill that will not be matched all season. This game was at risk of drifting, with Arsenal just 1-0 up against a West Ham side just thinking about getting back into the game. Then Sanchez ripped it to shreds with a 14-minute hat-trick.

The first goal was the best. There were 18 minutes left and Arsenal were pushing for a second but starting to grow anxious about over-committing. Sanchez, asked again to lead the line up front, received the ball with his back to goal, 35 yards out. Arthur Masuaku was up close to him, and Sanchez had little on. But he spun away from Masuaku, wriggling through no space whatsoever, and sped forward through the inside-right channel. Away from Masuaku, away from Angelo Ogbonna, and he drove the ball past Darren Randolph into the bottom corner while everyone else was still drawing breath.

That ended any tension over the result, but eight minutes later Sanchez did it again. The ball bounced across from the left, 20 yards from goal. Sanchez let it bounce, stepped over it, and drove it into the far bottom corner. The first was about power, this was about precision.

Then, just after a meaningless West Ham consolation, Sanchez topped it off with a witty impudent third. Racing onto Oxlade-Chamberlain’s pass, Sanchez ran through, away from Reid, before confusing Randolp with a running stepover and then lifting the ball gently over him and into the net.

By that point Arsenal were rampant, and in between Sanchez’s second and third goals, Chamberlain had smashed a goal in from 25 yards into the far bottom corner. The score-line ended up 5-1 which, given the score was 1-0 with 20 minutes left, shows just how badly West Ham collapsed at the end. This is a very fragile team and, as good as Sanchez was, West Ham did not exactly make it difficult for him.

From the very start it was clear that Arsenal would be put under no pressure here. West Ham barely put up a fight, and as soon as Alvaro Arbeloa came on for James Collins after six minutes, their defence was a mess. Some teams are good enough to play without discipline, organisation and intensity, but West Ham are certainly not. They have completely forgotten how to do the basics and , on another day, Arsenal would have scored their five goals in the first half.

Time after time Nacho Monreal and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain burst into Arbeloa’s unguarded space but their final ball was never good enough to give them the lead. They did not need to worry. This is a West Ham defence that always gives you another chance, and another, until you take it. Under no pressure, Angelo Ogbonna hit a pass at Francis Coquelin. The ball rolled out to Sanchez who skipped past Winston Reid with embarrassing ease. He could have scored, but rolled the ball to Mesut Ozil, who did.

It was a surprise that Arsenal did not score more in the first half, and was the only frustration to Wenger’s evening. There was a brief spell at the start of the second half when it looked as if Arsenal might even be punished for it. That 10 minutes of pressure was the only spell in the match when West Ham played with anything near competence. Because when Sanchez eventually turned it on, they could not live with him.

Saints fight back to slay Italian giants in historic home victory

Southampton edged closer to the Europa League knockout stages with an historic victory against Italian giants Inter Milan despite going behind and missing a penalty in the first half.

Mauro Icardi had put caretaker manager Stefano Vecchi’s side in front but the 805 away supporters who had made the 620 mile trip North from Lombardy went home disappointed after Claude Puel’s side deservedly reversed their fortunes with a goal from man of the match Virgil Van Dijk and an own goal from Yuto Nagatomo.

Before this game, James Ward-Prowse had said that this was an occasion the fans deserved after seeing their team drop to the third tier and enter administration seven years ago.

It is almost six years ago to the day that Dagenham and Redbridge were the visitors to St Mary’s for a League One fixture. Inter had won the Champions League six months earlier.

But whilst Southampton have been upwardly mobile, the Nerazzurri have lost some of their lustre and sacked Ronald de Boer at the beginning of the week after dropping to 12th in Serie A.

Just as they did in the San Siro early on, Southampton made the early running, once they had survived a third minute scare when Ever Banega tumbled under Maya Yoshida’s challenge. His fall failed to convince the Polish official.

Again Claude Puel rotated his squad and one of the six changes, Jay Rodriguez, came close as he curled just over the bar in the tenth minute. Soon afterwards, some slick interplay between Dusan Tadic and Nathan Redmond ended with the latter smashing narrowly wide from a tight angle.

Inter, unfamiliar in their lime green and blue shirts were happy to sit back and counter. That strategy brought the opening goal for the Italians against the run of play.

Breaking down the right flank, Danilo D’Ambrosio wriggled free of Virgil Van Dijk and found Ivan Perisic at the back post. His shot was blocked by Cuco Martina but Inter captain Icardi fired the rebound crisply past Fraser Forster in to the bottom corner.

Southampton were not cowed and should have been level as the half ended shrouded in controversy.

Firstly, Puel’s side were awarded a fortuitous penalty when the ball bounced up off Pierre Højbjerg and struck Perisic’s arm at point-blank range. Saints had to wait several minutes to take the spot-kick as Inter protested and Antonio Candreva appeared to elbow Sam McQueen.

The Italian international was only booked and then Tadic finally stepped up only to see his effort saved by the legs of Samir Handanovic before under-fire referee Pawel Gil blew for half-time. Handanovic has saved all three penalties he has faced in the competition for Inter but it was a tame effort from the Saints midfielder.

Fuelled by their perceived injustice, Southampton made a ferocious start to the second half with Ward-Prowse twice forcing saves from Handanovic with efforts from distance.

The pre-match fighting talk from Inter’s Andrea Ranocchia was that Southampton would “have to come away sweating blood” if they wanted to win this game.

Certainly there was no shortage of effort but just as in the corresponding fixture, Inter were dogged and resilient. Icardi, much maligned by the Inter ‘tifosi’ for comments made about them in his recent book, was alone in attack as the other nine outfield players defended their lead.

After the imperious Van Dijk had forced another outstanding save from Handanovic as he headed Tadic’s corner at goal, finally the breakthrough came.

As another Tadic corner was cleared, Oriol Romeu looped the ball against the crossbar before Van Dijk stabbed home the rebound and St Mary’s exploded.

“There’s only one Marcus Liebherr” rang out from around the ground in tribute to the club’s late owner. His daughter, Katharina, is rumoured to be in talks to sell the club to Chinese company Lander Sports Development Co. for £200m.

How the late Mr Liebherr would have loved to have been present when Southampton went in front.

This time, luck was on their side as Tadic’s low cross evaded everyone but struck the knee of the luckless Nagatomo at the back post and trickled into the net.

The Europa League trophy visited the South Coast city on Monday. Saints fans will be dreaming it makes a return visit next May.

Football transfer rumours: Bellerín and Aubameyang to Manchester City

Manchester City are getting greedy. They already have, it’s fair to say, quite a few good players. But they want more. Boy do they want more. City lashed some £175m on new players in the summer, but word on the street is they are keen to spend another £150m next year. On whom? Well, we’re glad you asked. Apparently they’re going to party like it’s 2009 and go shopping at Arsenal again, specifically for jet-heeled, immaculately-coiffured right-back Héctor Bellerín. Pep Guardiola is another among a significant number of managers with a serious Jones for Leonardo Bonucci (although Juventus are apparently looking to head that one off at the pass with a new contract), while they’re also keen on Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Crikey.

While City shop for more talent, their rivals are concentrating on keeping what they have. In the last 12 months Arsenal have achieved possibly the most meaningless second-place finish in the history of football, were knocked out of the FA Cup by Watford, the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday and the Champions League in the first knockout round. Admittedly that was by Barcelona, but they might not have been forced to face Messi and pals had they not made such a frightful guff of their first few group games.

Therefore, with that blinding history of achievement in their back pocket as negotiating leverage, it’s no wonder that a year after Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez’s contract negotiations started, their demands have supposedly gone up by nearly 40%. Apparently last October, in discussions over new deals for the pair of them, figures in the region of £180,000-a-week were mentioned, but now they’re after £250,000. Assuming they both sign five-year extensions to their current deal, the Gooners are looking at a sit-in-the-corner-and-cry-for-mummy extra cost of around £36m. Sweet mercy. Still, if Arsenal keep turning in performances and results like they have been in the last year, it’ll be worth every penny.

Speaking of contracts at Arsenal, Per Mertesacker’s is up at the end of the season, and should he decide not to stick around/Arsenal not want to keep him, Hannover 96 are apparently keen to take him back. “I am a person who likes to create options for himself,” said Mertesacker. “Of course, I ask myself what would make sense if things were to end at Arsenal. Where can I be of any help? What do I want? Could I maybe return to Germany?” The possibilities are endless, Per. Meanwhile Arsenal are sniffing around Benfica winger Gonçalo Guedes, although Manchester United are keen too.

And tying together those clubs already mentioned, Arsenal and City are training their beady eyes on the Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, who has looked mighty impressive when turning out for Brendan’s bhoys, keeping in mind all the obvious caveats with which a statement like that comes.

In more Manchester full-back news, let blubbing commence on the red side of town, for the age of Matteo Darmian could be over. Having been usurped by Antonio Valencia on the right side of United’s defence, the Italian might be hopping aboard the Do One Express. “He’s playing little or nothing and it’s a shame because he’s an Italy international,” noted his Mr 15%, Fausto Pari. “If the situation doesn’t change by January, we’ll have to think of something. He risks also losing his place in the national team.”

What else have we got? Well, Chelsea are supposedly keen on the Athletic Bilbao midfielder Óscar de Marcos, keen to the tune of a possible £30m bid come January. MLS would welcome Bastian Schweinsteiger with the most open of arms, according to Commissioner Gordo … sorry, Commissioner Don Garber. And, err, that’s about it really. Now go off and have a smashing day.

Roberto Pereyra: Watford And Juventus Are Different, But I’m Happy To Be Here

They call Tucumán El Jardin de la República, the Garden of Argentina, a somewhat misleading name for the smallest, most densely populated and one of the most deprived parts of the country. It was here, in Barrio Soeme, an area of unpaved roads and simple, single-storey concrete housing on the outskirts of the region’s capital, San Miguel de Tucumán, that Roberto Pereyra’s story began.

“It is still El Jardin de la República, but it’s also true that nowadays Tucumán is in a very bad state,” Pereyra says. “People live in terrible poverty, you see it every day. Of course, there are wealthy people, but the majority have hard lives. They have difficult lives. This is where I was born and where I started to play football. Of course, it’s where my family is, all my friends from home are still there. People who have supported me from the beginning. There were hard times for me but the worst times are now over. Now I am here, and I enjoy where I am.”

Tucumán’s nickname comes from its status as one of the centres of Argentinian agriculture. In recent years it has become the world’s largest producer of lemons, an industry that employs 50,000 people in the region including Pereyra’s father, Leonides. “My family is still in the same home, the home I grew up in,” says the Watford midfielder. “My father has had his job now for many years but at the beginning it was different. There were times when he didn’t have a job. My father was the only person in our family who could work and when he wasn’t working we didn’t have anything to eat.”

After his son made his international debut in 2014, Leonides spoke to his local newspaper in San Miguel de Tucumán. “This is like a never-ending dream,” he said. “But it is worth thinking about what we have been through, to now be feeling so much pleasure. My wife and I created a humble family and we learned to appreciate the food that through hard work I was able to bring home to give my children. This story is like a fairytale. Now he’s sharing a dressing room with players like Messi and Agüero.

“When I spoke to him three days ago he told me he couldn’t believe what was happening. He told me that, in these moments, he remembered the days when he ran around the backstreets of Barrio Soeme chasing a football. This is better than any dream.”

Having honed his skills on the streets around his home, Pereyra started to play for a youth team in the city run by UTA, Argentina’s road transport union. When he was 15 he starred in a tournament played in Necochea, south of Buenos Aires, and was offered the chance to train at weekends with a club in nearby Mar del Plata. The only hitch was that it was a little over 1,600km away from home. And so he travelled by bus, a journey that took at least 15 hours each way, and spent the time daydreaming of one day emulating his childhood hero, Ariel Ortega, who had played for River Plate before moving to Europe. “At the beginning, that’s what I had to do,” he says. “It was a very difficult period. There were a lot of sacrifices, but because of them I have reached this moment.”

Pereyra ended up playing for River Plate before moving to Europe, and these days he travels to training in a matt black Maserati. As he trains there, surrounded by manicured lawns and cricket squares, with his wife and infant son now installed at their luxurious new home nearby, those sacrifices must seem very distant. “I still have the desire to win and to improve. That’s always there,” he says. “Having a nice car, it’s something I never had before. For a long time I could not have any car. Now I have a car and a nice car it’s something that I take pride in and that I enjoy.”

There have been a few unusual twists in a career that has now brought him, aged 25, to Watford. He left River in 2011, after their first ever relegation to Argentina’s second division, to join Udinese, overcame debilitating homesickness – he calls his first few months in Italy “un periodo nero” – to establish himself in the team and three years later he moved to Juventus.

In Turin he expected, at least at first, to be an occasionally glimpsed back-up to a midfield that already included Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio and Paul Pogba. Instead, as a result of his own good form and injuries to others, he made 52 appearances in his first season as Juve won a domestic double and lost to Barcelona in the Champions League final. In his second year it was he who suffered injuries and after making only nine starts it ended with a move to Vicarage Road.

“This is a positive step for me,” he says. “It’s an important step on a personal level. It allows me to really show myself, to show my skills. Sometimes you have great periods and sometimes you have downs. This is a period in my life and I’m happy to be here. Juventus and Watford are different clubs. They fight for different things. But I’m here to show what I can do and to help Watford achieve their objectives.”

For the first time Pereyra has joined a club that expects him not only to play but to star. In Italy he spent time in every midfield position but this season it appears that his primary role will be offensive, linking midfield and attack. His record of 15 goals in 229 senior appearances does not immediately suggest that he is naturally at home in the opposition penalty area, but with a goal and an assist in his first game and a half in England he has started promisingly.

Lithe yet wiry, decorated with the modern footballer’s regulation assortment of tattoos and shoes that sparkle ostentatiously in the early autumn sun, he seems to possess a natural athleticism. “I like to dribble a lot, I like to run all over the pitch,” he says. “If I have to defend I defend, and if I have an opportunity to score I will score. I’m very happy with how I am.

“I’ll do my best and I’m sure the results will follow. We aim to stay in the Premier League, in this beautiful league which is one of the best in the world, and to be competitive. And I hope that if I play regularly and show my best, I will get the call from Argentina again.”

During the interview Pereyra receives a text message and picks up his phone. It is from Pogba, whose Manchester United side visit Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon in the latest test of Watford’s ambitions. “He’s an extraordinary player,” Pereyra says of the Frenchman. “He’s got everything, all the skills you can think of. He’s one of the few players who really surprised me the first time I saw him play. But we’re ready to play against anyone. We all know it’s going to be difficult but this is football. Anything can happen.” Pereyra, more than most, has learned that lesson the hard way.

West Ham vs Bournemouth Match Report: Michail Antonio Winner Gets Injury-hit Hammers Off The Mark

A place in West Ham United’s folklore seemed a long way off for Michail Antonio after his ignominious substitution at Stamford Bridge last Monday.

Yet, after scoring his club’s first league goal at the London Stadium in this narrow victory over ten-man Bournemouth, it is his name that will go down in the record books.

After a laboured display by his team-mates, Antonio headed from close range late on to take advantage of Harry Arter's dismissal and save the Hammers’ housewarming party from fizzling out.

After all, if the farewell to Upton Park was a long goodbye – and some say Marlon Harewood is still trying to hail one of those claret and blue Hackney carriages home – the Hammers’ ‘hello’ to the London Stadium has been just as protracted.

This was their third ‘first’ game here. The club’s desired curtain raiser, a friendly against Juventus, was preceded by a Europa League qualifier against the third-best team in Slovenia.

This opening league fixture in Stratford, however, felt like the proper introduction. More European nights are wanted, especially against the continent’s most illustrious clubs, but this stadium will host common and garden games against teams like Bournemouth more often than not.

If Slaven Bilic’s side were to get off to a winning start, they would have to do so without Dimitri Payet. A knock prevented the Hammers’ talisman from making a matchday squad already weakened by injury.

Andy Carroll, the latest casualty, will be out for six weeks with knee problem sustained in Thursday’s trip to Astra Giurgiu. “Devastated about my recent injured [sic] but I'm still the 15-20 goal man,” he tweeted. He’s averaged six each season since arriving in east London.

Nevertheless, the pair’s absence should have buoyed Eddie Howe’s side, who picked up their first ever top-flight victory in the reverse fixture last season. Yet the visitors posed little threat in the opening stages.

All attacking impetus came through West Ham’s wingers and Antonio routinely found space out on the left. His first cross found its way to Gokhan Tore on the opposite wing, but after cutting inside on his stronger foot, the Besiktas loanee could only fire over.

Tore would try this trick on several occasions throughout the first half and, despite the repetition, it seemed to confound Bournemouth’s left-back Charlie Daniels time and again. When the winger won a free-kick on the very edge of the area, Daniels was lucky not to concede a spot-kick.

He was not the only full-back leaving his foot in. Sam Byram, Antonio’s replacement in the Hammers’ backline, was lucky not see red for two reducers in the same phase of play. Craig Pawson, our referee, waved advantage after his first bone-cruncher on Ryan Fraser. The second, moments later, on Callum Wilson brought only a yellow.

Enner Valencia tested Artur Boruc with a shot from a tight angle five minutes from the break, but the visiting keeper comfortably palmed away. It was the only shot on target of a first half that was equally impotent in atmosphere. As the home support moved backstage for the pop-up bars, the away section rang out: “Is this the Emirates?”

West Ham’s start to the second half was just as subdued. Adrian, usually comfortable when handling the ball, dropped an early corner. Bournemouth rallied and shortly after, Jordon Ibe should have scored. The Cherries’ record signing was subtly slipped through by Joshua King, yet passed up the game’s best opportunity up to that point, choosing to cross rather than shoot.

A minute later, and seemingly frustrated by his team-mate’s indecision, King himself unleashed a rasping effort that looked destined for the top right-hand corner. Adrian acrobatically tipped the ball over but the shift in momentum was clear. Bournemouth were building.

Bilic was forced to make the long walk out from his dugout to the touchline. His side responded. Tore fired after being picked out at the far post, but found only the side netting. The effort led to a bellow that befitted the 57,000 capacity, even if half of that number thought the winger had scored.

This contest had suddenly found its rhythm, but before this stadium’s first Premier League goal, we received its first red card. Harry Arter, who earned a first booking in the first half under the new regulations for dissent, received his second after a more conventional foul on Chiekhou Kouyate.

A man up now, West Ham looked likeliest to lead. Jonathan Calleri was introduced, having just joined from Deportivo Maldonado, but he only wasted a decent opening by firing high over the top.

Eventually though, the breakthrough came. Tore, an industrious presence all afternoon, chased Antonio’s heavy cross and sent it back into the area, towards the far post, where his fellow winger rose to nod over the line.

In the final moments, Bournemouth almost found an equaliser but Adrian denied King and Winston Reid blocked Simon Francis' effort from the rebound.

The ball then broke to Calleri, who had the chance to round off the victory with Bournemouth's defence stranded upfield. The Argentine dashed down the pitch and soon bore down on goal but he could only shoot wide.

Not the most auspicious start for the striker. Nor, on the whole, for his team. But the performance was not of importance. There may be confusion over what to call the London Stadium but it has at least been christened with a win.

West Ham United (4-5-1): Adrian; Byram, Collins, Reid, Masuaku; Nordtveit (Fletcher, 80), Noble, Kouyate, Tore (Obiang, 89), Antonio; Valencia (Calleri, 63)

Substitutes not used: Randolph, Ogbonna, Burke, Oxford.

Bournemouth (4-3-3): Boruc; A. Smith, Francis (Gosling, 86), Cook, Daniels; Surman, Arter, Fraser; Ibe (Ake, 79), King, Wilson (Grabban, 75).

Substitutes not used: Federici, Afobe, Gradel, B. Smith.

Referee: C Pawson (South Yorkshire)

Man of the match: Tore

Match rating: 4/10