Walcott double puts Arsenal top at West Ham

Theo Walcott scored twice as Arsenal fought back from a goal down to beat West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park, a win which put the Gunners top of the Premier League on Boxing Day.Walcott and Lukas Podolski scored the goals late on after Carlton Cole had given the Hammers a shock lead.The Gunners dominated the first half with Santi Carzola’s header parried away before the Spaniard fired a long range effort over. But the best chance fell to Walcott who fired his volley wide from close range.The Hammers’ best chance fell to Mark Noble’s whose curling free-kick was parried. The hosts took just a minute of the second half to score when Wojciech Szczesny could only parry Noble’s shot and Cole tapped in the rebound.That sprung the home side into action with Matt Jarvis and Carlton Cole spurning chances. Adrian denied Cazorla and Mesut Ozil but was at fault when Walcott’s low effort went under him.And Walcott was the hero after heading in Podolski’s cross from the left to make it 2-1.Podolski made sure of victory with a vicious effort with the outside of his foot late on.(uk.eurosport.yahoo.com)ANN.Az