Wenger wonders why Arsenal perform better away than at home

Arsene Wenger is curious about Arsenal's away form, where they seem to play with more freedom and generally tend to score more goals than at home. The Gunners are yet to lose away from the Emirates in all competitions but have suffered defeat on two occasions at home this season, to Liverpool on the opening day and to Southampton in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.

The Gunners dispatched West Ham with relative ease at the Olympic stadium, scoring five goals, including a hattrick by Alexis Sanchez, while the other two goals were scored by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mesut Ozil. The win takes them to second, above Liverpool and three points behind leaders Chelsea, who beat Manchester City at the Etihad.

However, Wenger has reservations over their home form, which will have a massive effect in the title race if they fail to bring it up to scratch. The Frenchman is set to make a decision over the reason behind their failure to open up defences and believes it could be a combination of many factors.

"I don't know, I think every game gives you a different problem. It looks at the moment that we score more goals away from home than at home. Is that because the opponent plays a bit more out? Is that because we play with a bit more freedom? That will be interesting to analyse. Do we play with a block that is less deep away from home? If you look at our results away from home, they've been very convincing," Wenger told Arsenal's official website.

"I felt overall, on our side, we had a stronger defensive performance today and to be completely objective I must say as well that West Ham have less confidence at the moment that they had last year at the same period. They have, at the moment, two handicaps. They are playing in a new ground. We have gone through that, it's not completely comfortable, especially if it's added with a lack of confidence. Today as well, I think they missed some important players in their squad."