Andy Carroll scored a 10-minute hat-trick for the home side as West Ham United and Arsenal played out an enthralling 3-3 draw in this afternoon's Premier League clash at the Boleyn Ground.
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From the word go, the match was played at a high tempo as both sides traded ventures forward and committed several players to each attack.
The first moment of note in either area was in the 14th minute when Manuel Lanzini headed home Andy Carroll's wayward overhead kick but was flagged offside. Replays showed that the Argentine was onside and the goal should have stood.
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The rub of the green continued to go against the home side as Arsenal took the lead shortly after with a goal that was only just level and adjudged onside. Alex Iwobi threaded the ball through to Mesut Ozil and the German calmly slotted past Adrian to break the deadlock.
Referee Craig Pawson continued to anger the home support with a series of decisions and then the Gunners doubled their lead in the 35th minute.
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Again it was Iwobi the provider - making it two goals and two assists in his first three Premier League starts - as he lifted the ball over the top for Alexis Sanchez to control and tuck home.
Carroll, who was booked after just three minutes for a nasty lunge on Laurent Koscielny, tested David Ospina for the first time with a dipping shot in the 39th minute and then inspired a stunning end to the half.
First, he powered home an Aaron Cresswell cross in the 44th minute and then volleyed home via a deflection in first-half stoppage time to draw West Ham level before the break, with Nacho Monreal spurning a chance at the other end between the two goals which would have restored Arsenal's two-goal lead.
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West Ham picked up where they left off at the start of the second half as Dimitri Payet saw an effort ruled out because Carroll had hauled over Koscielny in the build-up, but moments later the hosts were celebrating again as Carroll completed a hat-trick just inside 10 minutes either side of the interval.
This time it was a Michail Antonio cross from the right that the big striker ate up, climbing above Hector Bellerin at the back post and thundering it home.
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West Ham appeared fairly comfortable the next quarter of an hour after going in front, but Arsenal then stepped it up a gear and had an equaliser in the 70th minute.
Not long after Lanzini had cleared Monreal's goalbound shot off the line, Koscielny beat Adrian with a well-directed finish after Danny Welbeck had helped on Ozil's cutback.
Both sides pushed hard for a winner in the last quarter of an hour as the match opened up even more, but neither side could score the game's seventh goal.
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Payet and Cresswell tested Ospina with efforts from distance, while Sanchez decided not to shoot with Arsenal's only other clear-cut opening.
A point means that third-placed Arsenal miss the chance to close the gap to eight points on league leaders Leicester City, while West Ham stay sixth and gain slight ground on the top four for the time being.
Pascal Lemesre
