Right then, I’m off. Have a wonderful festive stretch, everyone. Bye!

Here’s a match report from Nick Ames:

“One Arsène Wenger” was the chant that rang around the Emirates. Sitting up in the directors’ box the old master obliged with a wave. Gabriel Martinelli had just put Arsenal in front, some of the football was reminiscent of their glory years and, on his first visit since departing emotionally in 2018, the architect of those times would have been forgiven a sense that the good old days were coming back.

Perhaps they really are. Saïd Benrahma’s first-half penalty could have blown Arsenal off course here: maybe the Premier League’s hiatus had checked them in their stride and forced a more realistic view of their title credentials. Prompted by the brilliant Martin Ødegaard, they responded through Bukayo Saka and, after Martinelli’s pivotal strike, Eddie Nketiah, to maintain the idea that their place at the summit is no mere dalliance.

Much more here:

Nice reading for Arsenal fans:

During the course of that second half Liverpool were reported to be in talks with PSV over a move for Cody Gakpo, first by one or two people, then by pretty much everyone, and PSV confirmed that a deal had been reached and the player was on his way to England. Swift work.

90+5 mins: Elneny will make an extraordinarily shot appearance, coming on for Partey for the last, well, let’s count the seconds…

90+4 mins: Save! Fornals’ curler is headed inside the post, but Ramsdale dives to his left to palm it away.

90+1 mins: There’ll be another four minutes of this, or thereabouts.

88 mins: Arsenal bring Fabio Vieira on for Martinelli.

87 mins: Odegaard, just inside his own half, spins away from two opponents. He’s been irresistible today, beautiful and inspiring to watch.

85 mins: Odegaard has clearly decided he deserves a goal too, because he’s done a lot of shooting in the last 10 minutes. Another left-foot curler goes unrewarded.

84 mins: “That third goal is a perfect demonstration of what good coaching and management can do,” writes John Swan. “Eddie N’Ketiah was enthusiastic but wayward and frustrating this time last year and would have wasted that chance maybe 8 times out of 10. Now you’d not be surprised to see him do that consistently.” Arsenal do look irresistible in attack, if still a little susceptible on the break.

81 mins: Martinelli’s cross from the left goes across goal and out the other side, where Benrahma picks it up, tries a double lollipop on the edge of his own area, is dispossessed and is presumably extraordinarily relieved when Odegaard shoots wide again. That was extraordinarily, inexcusably stupid. “After a brutal cold spell here (think -45C and below) this Arsenal game and team is like a warm, cosy hug!” trills Michelle Peters-Jones from Edmonton. Minus what?

79 mins: “David Penney can eat some humble pie for slating Eddie (34 mins),” writes, um, someone on Twitter. “That kid can play.” That he can.

78 mins: West Ham bring Fornals on for Soucek, who has worked hard off the ball but done nothing with it.

77 mins: Odegaard, who deserves a goal to go with his two assists (one accidental) curls a shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

74 mins: If you’re not geoblocked from watching this, watch it.

One person who did watch it, it seems, is Mykhaylo Mudryk:

73 mins: The ball bounces to Antonio, 15 yards outside West Ham’s area, and he spins past Xhaka, who brings him down. The referee gives the free kick, but strangely keeps his cards in his pocket. Arsenal bring Zinchenko on for Tierney.

66 mins: Kehrer’s 30-yarder flies well high, and way wide.

63 mins: There’s a rocking atmosphere at the Emirates now, comebacks, floodlights and festive cheer all contributing.

60 mins: Arsenal have three coaches on the touchline gesticulating furiously as West Ham prepare to restart the game. “One Arsene Wenger!” shout the home fans.

50 mins: Bowen jumps to win a header. Tierney jumps into him and goes down clutching his face while on the sidelines Arteta demands the referee act on an alleged elbow. Absolutely ridiculous, and the referee rightly ignores him. A tweet! “I’m following your Guardian coverage from a holiday flat in Mauritius, where its nearly 1am and everyone’s gone to sleep except me! I’m hanging on every update!” Don’t go to sleep yet, Don, there are more goals in this.

47 mins: Antonio was offside anyway.

46 mins: Save! Antonio runs into the right side of the penalty area and blasts a shot towards the near post, where Ramsdale gets two gloves behind it.

46 mins: Peeeeeep!

The players are on their way back out, potentially fortified, as I have been, by a halftimely slice of stollen.

Half-time reading: He’s a story about Arsenal’s bid for Mykhalo Mudryk:

Replays suggest there was no handball, and this decision is going to be reversed. The referee has been told to have a look at the replays.

45+3 mins: About 30 seconds of the first half to go, and Arsenal have a corner.

45+1 mins: There will be three minutes of first-half stoppage time.

45 mins: Coufal slides in, eyes on the ball, and wins it clearly. But he then slides through into Martinelli, landing his studs on the Arsenal’s players foot, and so gets booked.

42 mins: An absolutely magic first touch from Nketiah, but Kehrer comes across to take the ball away.

42 mins: Odegaard has been so good. When he’s on his game it’s a pleasure to watch him work in tight spaces. He’s just been on a different level from his teammates so far tonight.

40 mins: “Wenger out!” protests Peter Oh.

38 mins: Nice work on the right gives White a good crossing opportunity, but it does not bring a good cross.

34 mins: A glorious opportunity for Nketiah to set up Saka, but his pass is poor and the chance is lost. “This all reminds me of when Wenger used to say that Bendtner and Chamakh could lead the line and we could compete for trophies,” David Penney says of Arsenal’s forward. “Hope we’re signing someone good in the next 30 days.”

33 mins: Arsenal attack repeatedly down the left, but every time they try to move the ball into the middle someone in a black shirt kicks it away again.

30 mins: West Ham are sitting just on the right side of the line between outrageous good fortune and perfect execution of a game plan.

26 mins: The VAR has confirmed the penalty, and Benrahma has grabbed the ball.

24 mins: This has been fun so far. Arsenal are dominating, and really look a fair bit better than their opponents, but West Ham still have a threat on the counter.

21 mins: White then heads the corner away, and Benrahma’s shot is straight at Ramsdale. He immediately throws the ball out and starts a promising break, but Nketiah shoots into Coufal.

19 mins: West Ham have not done a lot of attacking, but they have just won a corner, Ben White heading Bowen’s cross behind.

15 mins: Odegaard dances across the edge of the West Ham penalty area, but his attempted pass to Martinelli is cut out.

13 mins: This time Odegaard, who’s pulling all the strings here, does find Xhaka, but his right-footed 20-yarder is feeble.

10 mins: Odegaard plays a nearly-great pass through to Xhaka, which runs through to the keeper.

8 mins: A lovely run down the right from Martinelli ends with Bowen bringing him down. I thought he got the ball and kicked it into Martinelli, but that only made it look like Martinelli had kicked it. He gets a yellow card for his troubles.

7 mins: “Was that 1987 loss to Nottingham Forest?” asks Jonathan Wood of Arsenal’s last home defeat on Boxing Day. It was indeed. “I was at that game - first trip to see Forest at Highbury. We were 1-0 up with less than five minutes to go, having not won at Highbury for years, when Arsenal won a penalty. Kenny Samson - who was disputing the left back position for England with Stuart Pearce - missed. A minute later, Forest went down the other end and won a penalty themselves. Up stepped Pearce in front of the North Bank and showed Samson how to do it. 2-0. Bedlam in the Forest end.”

5 mins: Arsenal have a goal disallowed! The ball is played through to Nketiah, who backheels it to Saka, who smashes in at the near post. When the pass is played both Nketiah and Saka are onside but as it skidded through it clipped Saka’s heel, and at that point Nketiah was offside.

3 mins: Apparently Arsene Wenger is in the crowd today, visiting the Emirates for the first time since he left the club in 2018, having more recently dedicated himself to saying ridiculous things that are convenient for Fifa.

1 min: Peeeeep! West Ham get the game started.

Before kick-off, a minute’s applause for George Cohen.

Out come the players! It’s been a long and hectic day of top-flight football, now it’s time to see if the league leaders are feeling festive.

Prime’s big pre-match interview was with Oleksandr Zinchenko, and their panel in the stadium now feel obliged to have a long chat about him. Which is have been fine, had he only been in the starting XI.

On Twitter, noted rumourmonger Fabrizio Romano reports that Arsenal have submitted a bid of an initial €40m, rising to €60m, for Shakhtar Donetsk’s 21-year-old Ukrainian winger Mykhaylo Mudryk. Apparently the player is keen, but his club want lots more cash.

Some pre-match reading, in the shape of Ben Fisher’s report on Aston Villa 1-3 Liverpool:

Aaron Cresswell has a chat. “I think the break’s come at a good time for us. The lads have been working hard, so it’s up to us now to put things right. We haven’t had a great start to the season. We’re not scoring enough goals and we could do better at conceding them. But today’s a big opportunity to get back to it. Arsenal have been fantastic all season, we know it’s going to be a tough game but it’s up to us to get three points today.”

Hello world!

What an awfully-timed World Cup that was for Arsenal. Top of the table, with points dropped in only one of their last nine league games, they were absolutely flying when the pause button was pressed in early November. Now we wait to discover whether that momentum has survived the last six weeks. For all their quality (and the fact that the last time they lost at home on Boxing Day was so long ago that one of their centre-backs that day is now 64 (1987 and David O’Leary, since you ask), a run the Hammers have twice tried and failed to end) this might not be a bad time to play them. There has only been one goalless draw between these teams since then, promisingly. West Ham started the season against Manchester City, and now have to restart it against Arsenal, which is a bit rum. I have a feeling in my bones that this game might be a good ’un, but then I am an incorrigible optimist. Welcome!