UPDATE 2-Soccer-Rice on target as Arsenal beat West Ham in Arteta's 300th game

(Adds quotes) By Martyn Herman LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrated 300 games in charge on Saturday with a stress-free 2-0 home win over West Ham United in a lop-sided derby that underlined why many are predicting his side could finally deliver the Premier League title. The Spaniard was his usual animated self in the technical area but could probably have enjoyed his milestone match from a comfortable seat with a cigar such was his side's superiority. It took Arsenal a while to penetrate a defensive West Ham but once Declan Rice struck home a rebound against his old club in the 38th minute there was only one likely conclusion. Bukayo Saka made the points safe from the penalty spot in the 67th and the only surprise was that the hosts did not win by a far larger margin against a visiting side who failed to force goalkeeper David Raya into a save. It capped a fine week for Arsenal who snatched a late comeback win at Newcastle United last weekend before beating Olympiakos in the Champions League on Wednesday. Arteta's team lead the table with 16 points from their opening seven games, one more than Liverpool, although the champions could reclaim top spot with a win at Chelsea later. West Ham remain second-bottom with four points. ARSENAL CAPTAIN ODEGAARD INJURED AGAIN "To go top of the table after some big fixtures over the last week and some injuries, we got some today but we were able to respond," Arteta said. "We dominated and fully deserved to win this. We had some big, big chances we didn't put away." The only fly in the ointment for Arteta ahead of the international break is another injury to captain Martin Odegaard. The Norway midfielder appeared to hurt his knee and became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before halftime in three successive starts. Arsenal had lost only four of their last 42 Premier League home games before Saturday, but half of those defeats were against West Ham whose victories in the last two seasons proved costly to the North London club's doomed title chase. This time the Hammers never threatened to make it a hat-trick as they spent most of the match on the ropes. "That was not a good performance," manager Nuno Espirito Santo said after his second game in charge. "We knew it was going to be tough, we were facing a good team. In moments we were organised and compact and made it tough for Arsenal." Arsenal should have gone ahead when Saka's low cross caused chaos in the West Ham area and when the ball was only half cleared to Eberechi Eze he blazed his effort over the bar. Eze is still waiting for his first league goal for Arsenal but he had a big hand in Rice's goal. His shot on the turn was saved by keeper Alphonse Areola but when the ball rolled out to Rice he made no mistake, planting his effort high into the net. Riccardo Calafiori almost made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time but his shot struck the post and then Areola's back before being scrambled clear by the visitors. Arsenal's domination continued after the break and they doubled their lead when Jurrien Timber was brought down by El Hadji Malick Diouf and Saka calmly dispatched his penalty to mark his 200th Premier League appearance in style. (Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)

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