The countdown to Arsene Wenger's Arsenal exit started with an emphatic victory as West Ham were beaten 4-1 on Super Sunday
Emotions were running high at the Emirates Stadium following , but goals from Nacho Monreal (51), Aaron Ramsey (82) and an Alexandre Lacazette double (85, 89) ensured victory, despite a 64th-minute equaliser from Marko Arnautovic
The late surge of goals ensured Arsenal moved four points clear of seventh-place Burnley as they warmed up for Thursday's Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid in style
The result leaves West Ham in 15th, six points above the relegation with four games to play and still with work to do to avoid the drop this season
Wenger spoke before the game of his hope that the week's events would stir positive emotions in his players, but the first half was subdued with the Emirates Stadium once again below full capacity
Perhaps inspired by Wenger's half-time words, Monreal broke the deadlock six minutes into the second period, running onto a Granit Xhaka corner and volleying left-footed past Joe Hart from near the penalty spot
West Ham struck back 13 minutes later when David Ospina punched away Arthur Masuaku's cross and the ball was eventually worked to substitute Manuel Lanzini to slip in Arnautovic and he rifled a brilliant shot across the goalkeeper and into the far corner
West Ham goalkeeper Hart made superb saves to deny Xhaka and Danny Welbeck, but was cruelly beaten by Ramsey eight minutes from time when Declan Rice inexplicably ducked out of the way of the Welshman's cross and the ball drifted into the net
Three minutes later, Lacazette scored Arsenal's third when he finished off a flowing Arsenal move with a fierce drive, which deflected off Aaron Cresswell and across Hart
Lacazette added gloss to the result in the final minute when he received a pass from Ramsey and powered home his second of the game to spark raucous chants of 'one Arsene Wenger' from the victorious home supporters
Arsenal's striker picked up the Man of the Match award after netting the two late goals which took the game beyond West Ham and 80% of his strikes for Arsenal this season in all competitions have come at the Emirates
 The Frenchman was a consistent focal point for the home team throughout the game and profited when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang emerged from the bench to give him additional support in attack
 "The second goal was key
 At 1-1 you could see we may have been wobbling but the second goal killed them
 We had a spell in the second half when we came out when we should have scored two or three goals
 So when they came back to 1-1 it was interesting to see how we responded
"The young centre-half [Declan Rice] should head the ball away and it wouldn't have even got to 2-1, it was that easy
 Why he would duck in the box I've got no idea
 But look, we've all been young players going into games and we're always going to make mistakes
 The most important thing is you learn from your mistakes, you don't do it again and you understand how important it is
""Arsenal were much better at the end of the game
 For an hour you didn't know where the game would go
 Arnautovic scored a well-deserved goal, he played really well
 It was no more than West Ham deserved after their first-half performance
 Arsenal went 2-1 up in the second half and from there on there could have been a fifth or a sixth goal had there been a couple more minutes
 It looks great in the end for Arsenal and it's a good result for the boss, it creates a gap over Burnley
"Arsenal host Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday night before travelling to face Manchester United on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports
 West Ham are also in action on Super Sunday when they host Manchester City
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>
<PAD>