Sylvain Wiltord helped himself to a 37-minute hat-trick as Arsenal, cut to shreds by Manchester United last Sunday, took their own turn to dismantle sadly under-strength opposition at Highbury.

West Ham, 1-0 FA Cup winners in January at Old Trafford where Arsene Wenger's team were demolished 6-1 six days ago, were without the injured Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Frederic Kanoute, Steve Lomas and Trevor Sinclair plus the suspended Paolo di Canio for their short trip to north London.

Never has manager Harry Redknapp's familiar "down to the bare bones" catchphrase been more apt.

But French international Wiltord, who like three-quarters of Arsenal's £37million strike quartet has been moaning about insufficient first-team opportunity, showed them no mercy.

Paired up with Dennis Bergkamp and later replaced by Thierry Henry, he started his one-man wrecking act after only six minutes and had completed it with eight minutes of the first half still to go.

It was his first Arsenal hat-trick since joining the Gunners in a record £13million deal soon after the start of the season and took his tally for the campaign to 11, with five of those in the FA cup where Arsenal face either Blackburn or Bolton in a sixth-round tie at Highbury next Saturday.

For now they are still 14 points behind Premiership leaders Manchester United despite the champions' lucky escape with just a draw at Leeds.

But that is an old story. What Arsenal needed most was a pick-me-up after the Old Trafford blitz - and luckless West Ham, with three Highbury old boys in a patched-up side, provided it.

Wiltord's 37-minute treble was down to quick feet, clinical finishing and some loose West Ham defending.

Hammers veteran Stuart Pearce was unwillingly at the centre of the first two goals before completing an unhappy first half with a yellow card for a bad tackle on Bergkamp.

Pearce should have comfortably cleared a hopeful through pass by Lauren in only the sixth minute but unaccountably nodded it down instead straight to the feet of Robert Pires, who instantly released his fellow Frenchman through the middle.

There may have been a question of offside but Wiltord single-mindedly pressed on to fire his right-foot shot beyond the grasp of Shaka Hislop.

Seven minutes later he used his left to defeat the Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper after leaping on the corner of the area to breast down Lee Dixon's long, lofted pass and getting a lucky bounce off Pearce before driving home.

Amazingly Arsenal spent the next 10 minutes dithering, Old Trafford-style in defence despite the return of seasoned veterans Dixon and skipper Tony Adams.

David Seaman could not be faulted for even one of the six that went by him against Manchester United but he needed headers by first Patrick Vieira and then Adams to get him out of trouble here after flapping alarmingly at a sequence of West Ham corners.

The deposed 37-year-old England goalkeeper also used his head, though, to cut out the danger needlessly presented by a loose backpass from Dixon with Diawara lurking dangerously.

But despite their own shortcomings at the back, Arsenal still looked a considerable force in attack even though boss Wenger left top scorer Henry on the bench for an hour before sending him on as replacement for the hat-trick hero.

After Bergkamp had twice gone close, firing over and forcing Hislop into a brave save, Wiltord skipped through for his treble completion from a masterful through pass by Freddie Ljungberg, who had just failed to find him with a similar effort a couple of minutes earlier.

Hislop was left completely exposed again and this time Wiltord clipped the ball under his advance to land perfectly in the far corner.

With the game over as any meaningful contest, the second half was largely academic.

Bergkamp landed a delightful, dipping half-volley on the roof of the net with Hislop helpless soon after the break and Ljungberg twice went agonizingly close from outside the box.

Vieira was booked for a foul on Christian Dailly, who got him back soon afterwards and was also yellow-carded. It was that sort of tedium - and it seemed that fussy referee Mike Riley was anxious to add some sort of impact by mysteriously booking West Ham substitute Svetsolav Todorov as well.

But Wenger put on an interesting side-show when producing Edu, his £6million Brazilian midfielder, for a much-delayed home debut, his belated entrance infamously delayed by passport problems and a hamstring injury after a brief appearance as substitute at Leicester in January.

The 22-year-old, who thought he was an Arsenal player as long ago as July when immigration officers turned him back from Heathrow with forged documents, must have been glad to finally get an unpressurised outing under his belt.

But he showed his quality with a raking, low drive 10 minutes from time that just slipped by Hislop's left-hand post.

Teams:

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Cole (Vivas 54), Adams, Grimandi, Ljungberg, Vieira, Lauren, Pires (Edu 66), Bergkamp, Wiltord (Henry 60).

Subs Not Used: Manninger, Kanu.

Booked: Vieira, Lauren.

Goals: Wiltord 6, 13, 39.

West Ham: Hislop, Stuart Pearce (Tihinen 82), Stimac (Ian Pearce 75), Dailly, Song, Winterburn, Lampard, Soma, Schemmel, Suker, Diawara (Todorov 75).

Subs Not Used: Camara, Bywater.

Booked: Stuart Pearce, Dailly, Todorov.

Att: 38,071

Ref: M Riley (Leeds).