Arsenal 2-0 West Ham: Gunners cruise to routine victory as Nuno Espirito Santo's side roll over with ease - and summer signing steps up after Martin Odegaard's injury blow

There will be days when Arsenal’s candidacy for the title is properly tested, but anyone who expected West Ham to provide the examination ought to be kept away from heavy machinery.

This was a walk. A stroll. The kind where the best to be said for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side was that they were not blow away by the wind. If they had, it might have been considered a small mercy.

Not because 2-0 away at Arsenal is a disgrace. But because of the half-truths told by the score at the close of a game in which David Raya did not need to make even a single save. The white lies of the numbers concealed the whitewash of this performance.

As such, four league wins for Mikel Arteta became five, three clean sheets became four, and barely a drop of sweat was spared. That is what their second gear looks like and there is a gathering excitement around what they will muster when the more meaningful assignments come Arsenal’s way after the international break.

If we were to be excessively critical, to search for disclaimers to the table, then we might draw ourselves to the finishing. That was the case in midweek against Olympiacos and it was a natural reflex here, where two goals from 21 attempts on goal felt thin.

On that front, Viktor Gyokeres extended his scoreless run to six and, more worryingly, is still struggling to strike an obvious rapport with the vast array of creative masters around him. It should work out fine, we would assume, but for now there is a disconnect with the likes of Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka that cannot be excused by hard running and endeavour alone.

But that is to pick at nits. On balance, Arsenal were able to tick off a comfortable win in close proximity to a European fixture and did so without overburdening any of their key elements.

That is the luxury afforded by this exceptionally deep squad, and it was shown once more when Odegaard succumbed to his latest injury – a banged knee – and Martin Zubimendi contrived to being the level upwards in his absence.

He was involved in both goals, with the first scored by Declan Rice and the second converted from the penalty spot by Saka. Before, in between and after, Arsenal were never close to danger. Rice, in particular, was excellent.

Of course, that all has to be balanced against the opposition. And Arteta knew it, which is why he stacked the deck with attacking options - West Ham are an invitation to park inhibitions, not buses.

In the minutiae, that meant a deeper role in the midfield three for Eze, replicating an experiment tested recently against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup. There was also a concerted tactical effort, a desperation even, to open supply lines or forge a meaningful synchronicity between Odegaard and Gyokeres.

For the better part of 25 minutes, Odegaard would take the ball, scan for his striker, and set about finding a way of bringing Gyokeres into play as a priority. Too often, the correct run wasn’t offered, which is shaping into a theme this season.

The latest version of that mission was brought to a halt around half an hour in. Odegaard had clattered his left knee against Crysencio Summerville and was sufficiently hurt to come off, necessitating a spin on Arsenal’s wheel of high-class replacements. No one wants to swallow the loss of a player like Odegaard but the landing is softened when Zubimendi is available from the bench.

That depth could define Arteta’s season and it helped define the first half, with Zubimendi involved in the move for 1-0. He won possession initially and was then central to its key phase by slipping a tidy ball between Mateus Fernandes and El Hadji Malick Diouf for Eze, who embarrassed both men with his quicker read of the pass into the space behind. When Eze’s shot was saved, Rice buried the rebound.

As with the Olympiacos win in midweek, there was a mystery in how the score wasn’t wider by the break. Arsenal had dominated, especially though Rice’s distribution from the middle and via the manoeuvres of Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber on the right - they shredded Diouf quite mercilessly with their overlaps.

But for all the possession and cute moments, the output was too low. Eze and Gyokeres each missed decent opportunities, or mistimed a few runs in the case of the Swede, and Saka and had a goal rightly disallowed for offside. There was also a strike against the post from Riccardo Calafiori, all of which on other days, against better opposition, might have pre-empted a fear about sucker punches.

Against West Ham? It was easily ridden.

The penalty for 2-0 was an exhibition of Arsenal’s variety and the clumsiness of their guests. Zubimendi was again involved, floating a ball over the top of Diouf for Timber, and in the turn the full-back bundled him over from behind. Saka had Alphonse Areola beaten on the run-up and sent him the wrong way.

It summed up West Ham’s challenge.