Van Persie double and Walcott consign Hammers to defeat

IF THIS was to be Avram Grant's last game in charge of West Ham, then he will have gone out with more of a fizz than a bang.

Arsenal dominated proceedings from start to finish at Upton Park and coasted home thanks to a brace of goals from Robin van Persie and a Theo Walcott strike.

Grant's head is largely rumoured to be on the block, with the axe being sharpened by owners David Gold and David Sullivan. However, it is understood that reports in the press today that he will be removed after the final whistle today are wide of the mark, with any decision being postponed until at least next week.

The Israeli was not helped by a list of injuries as long as his arm, with influential midfielder and talisman Scott Parker ruled out with an ankle injury and striker Frederic Piquionne missing with toothache to add to the other absentees.

As expected, Arsenal monopolised the ball, although they created little early on, with Samir Nasri seeing a long-range free-kick deflected and saved by Robert Green.

The first goal arrived just five minutes later though, and it was impressive in its execution.

Jack Wilshere played the ball wide for Walcott, who waited before playing a ball into the box for Nasri, but the Frenchman's dummy confused the Hammers' backline and fell for Van Persie to hit a first-time right-footed shot inside Green's near post.

Walcott should really have doubled the lead just four minutes later when Wilshere lofted a ball over the top for the England winger to scamper on to, but James Tomkins just got back to put him off and his subsequent shot from a bouncing ball was tame and easy for the keeper to deal with.

Mark Noble was hauled off by Grant with an injury and he was replaced by former Gunners winger Luis Boa Morte.

West Ham did have a superb chance to draw level against the run of play, however. Carlton Cole, perhaps the hosts' best player in the first half, pressured Johan Djourou into a lax back pass, but the striker was denied by a brilliant save from Wojciech Szczesny. The ball dropped for Boa Morte, who wriggled into the box before Zavon Hines took over and fired a left-footed shot inches over the bar from an acute angle.

Just after the half hour mark Van Persie was at the heart of the action once again, receiving the ball from Nasri and cannoning a shot off the base of the far post.

It was not long before the comfort of a second arrived for the visitors. West Ham's defence were left appealing for offside against a very on-side Van Persie and he dragged a ball back across the face of goal where Walcott had got across his marker, debutant Wayne Bridge, to stab into the roof of the net.

After the break both sides seemed to have accepted the result, West Ham struggling for any urgency and Arsenal passing the ball around with ease without creating much in the way off chances.

Sears almost got the home side back into the game with a cross-shot that Szczesny was forced to tip behind, but that was as close as the Hammers got to a goal.

Pablo Barrera was brought on in the hope that he could inject some spark into what had been a lifeless West Ham display, but he was as ineffective as any other player on display.

The Irons were eventually put out of their misery when Walcott was needlessly hacked down inside the apex of the box by Bridge, who was enduring a torrid time in his first appearance in a West Ham shirt after his loan arrival from Manchester City.

Van Persie stepped up and confidently hammered the ball out of the reach of Green into the bottom left corner for the third.

The remaining minutes were seen out with the visitors passing their way to the final whistle, and Bridge's bad day got worse when he was withdrawn with injury, Frank Nouble coming on for a brief cameo.

For West Ham to dispense with Grant on the back of this performance would be harsh, although the decision may have already been made.