Riccardo Calafiori sends perfect Arsenal message with three-word jibe at rivals after title boost

Riccardo Calafiori has sent the perfect message after Arsenal entered the October international break top of the Premier League. The Gunners beat West Ham United 2-0 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon with Liverpool losing to a last-minute Chelsea winner just a few hours later.

A Declan Rice rebound and Bukayo Saka penalty sealed a fourth consecutive victory for Mikel Arteta's side with five clean sheets kept during their seven-game unbeaten run. Injury problems have been the only real negative over the last few weeks with Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Odegaard and Rice all suffering issues.

The latter duo were both forced off against the Hammers with Arteta's post-match update not too promising.

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"I think he [Odegaard] had a clash knee-to-knee, and immediately he was uncomfortable, I just spoke to him, he's not positive about it, he's got a brace on, we'll have to wait and see from the doctors, but we haven't been very unlucky with that either," Arteta admitted during his post-match press conference.

On Rice, he added: "Well, he's not alright because he asked me to come off, so that's a shame. So, he had pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we'll have to assess him and see how he is."

Though the injury problems for Odegaard and Rice are far from ideal, the October international break has potentially arrived at the best possible time with Arsenal now not playing for two weeks. Odegaard has undergone further tests on his knee with a private jet that was going to take him to Norway being cancelled.

It has since been confirmed that he will not feature for his country over the two-week domestic pause but the expectation is that Rice will report for England duty on Monday.

Minus those worries, Arteta will be overjoyed at how things stand after seven games with five wins and the only points dropped coming against Liverpool and Man City. He took some big criticism for the reserved tactics deployed against Pep Guardiola's side, but he held nothing back in the late comeback win over Newcastle United.

The two teams have developed somewhat of a rivalry in recent years after some ferocious meetings with that further highlighted by boos and the anger and Calafiori attempting to dry the ball for a long throw-in with a towel.

Premier League rules state that due to the multi-ball system, clubs have to agree for towels to be available with it clear that was not the case at St James' Park. Calafiori was not too pleased when it was snatched off him by Dan Burn, but he would have been happy about the circumstances a few weeks later.

Back at Arsenal's home pitch, it certainly seemed as though an agreement was reached over their usage with the Italy international taking full advantage and sending a perfect message.

Via hisInstagram story, Calafiori wrote: "3 massive points!!! And a towel [heart eyes emoji]." Calafiori was at his attacking best against West Ham and went close to scoring his second goal of the season but his long-range effort bounced back off the post.

After a challenging first season at the club, largely due to injury, the versatile defender seems to be hitting his stride and keeping Myles Lewis-Skelly out of the team.