Mikel Arteta hailed star man Bukayo Saka as the Arsenal winger led the Gunners to an impressive 5-2 win at West Ham United at the London Stadium.

After racing into a 4-0 lead with just 35 minutes on the clock, the Hammers halved the deficit with a pair of exquisite strikes before Saka’s penalty put the game beyond doubt late into the first half.

“It was a spectacular 30 minutes. Straight away, you could see how much the team wanted it,” said the Spaniard.

“The purpose, the determination, and the quality - to score three great goals in different ways and then score the fourth one as well in a great way as well.

“After that, we had a period that the individual quality of them (West Ham) obviously played a big part at 4-2, and then it’s game on. You could sense that the energy has changed.

"I think it was great to score the fifth one, because that calmed everything down, and in the second half we could play a very different game that was much more suited to us.”

Gabriel, who opened the scoring for Arteta’s side just 10 minutes in, was replaced at half-time as fans held their breath ahead of the Gunners’ monster clash with Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.

“It was related to the previous injury he had in Lisbon. He did great to be part of that,” added Arteta.

“With that result and with the niggle we were feeling, we decided to take him off.”

And Arteta continued to sing the praises of the Brazilian defender, having doubled his goalscoring tally for the season over the last week.

“He is a real believer. The more it happens, the more you believe. You can tell straight away from the body language of the player that something is coming up,” Arteta said when asked about the threat Gabriel offers from set-pieces.

“To have various ways of scoring goals makes the team so much more unpredictable. 

“We’ve got some momentum now, and some of our way flows back. We’ve got a real determination; winning three consecutive games against three really tough opponents is great. We’re going to enjoy it tonight and watch a beautiful game of football tomorrow."

Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard (penalty) and Kai Havertz were also on target at London Stadium and Saka now sits at the top of the Premier League assists chart, having contributed 10 from just 12 matches played, after missing the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth last month.

And Arteta had nothing but praise for the England forward.

“It’s incredible, because it’s the hardest thing to do in football,” the Spaniard replied when asked about Saka’s contribution this season.

“A player that can deliver in those moments can impact the scoreline in that way. The value of that is tremendous, and even if the opponent knows it, he continues to do it, and that’s a bit of credit to him."

The Arsenal boss was also questioned about Saka’s fitness and replied:, "It's fine. No problem.”

The Gunners host Ruben Amorim's Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening in the Premier League before travelling to Fulham next Sunday.