LONDON:
Gabriel Martinelli appeared as Arsenal The top five moved to the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 win over Everton on Wednesday.
Bukayo Saka broke Everton’s stubborn resistance late in the first half before Brazilian forward Martinelli doubled Arsenal’s lead at the Emirates Stadium.
Martin Odegaard scored the third and Martinelli wrapped up Arsenal’s biggest win since October on a night that could be another defining moment in their promotion to the title.
It was important for Mikel Arteta’s team to win their game in second place Manchester City as the race approaches its climax.
With 13 games remaining, a win would keep Arsenal in prime position to win the title for the first time since Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ in 2003-04.
“As soon as we scored the first goal, the game was opened. We needed a magic moment and Bukayo did that. After that we grew and deserved to win the game,” the said Arteta.
“It’s a statement that we’re here and we want to keep this going.”
After a run of three league games without a win ended with City knocking them out of the top flight with a 3-1 win at the Emirates, Arsenal have recovered.
Three wins in a row since beating City took the Gunners to 60 points, their highest tally after 25 Premier League games, along with that famous 2003-04 campaign and 2007-08 .
“I’m happy when I see the team play the way we want. This league is a different story,” said Arteta.
“We had great proof of that at Goodison. I’m really pleased with the maturity and quality we showed.”
Sean Dyche started his Everton tenure with a 1-0 win against Arsenal at Goodison Park on 4 February.
But Everton have lost three times and won just once since then, leaving them sitting in the bottom three of the table.
Everton are playing better than all the teams around them at the bottom and remain the league’s lowest scorer this season with just 17 goals.
Unless Dyche can fix their problems, Everton are in serious danger of playing in the second division for the first time since 1954.
Arteta was rewarded for being named in the same team that won 1-0 at Leicester on Saturday, with Leandro Trossard selected in attack instead of Eddie Nketiah.
In an unusual case of Everton pressure, Aaron Ramsdale had to save from Neal Maupay twice in quick succession, but both times the striker’s efforts did not have the power to really test the goalkeeper.
Arteta has said that everything is “good” between Gabriel and William Saliba despite the chaos of the Arsenal team back on the pitch after the Leicester game.
Gabriel certainly didn’t seem to be affected by the chaos as he slipped to the other side with a perfect block to stop Maupay from landing a shot.
Everton’s rearguard action lasted until the 40th minute when Saka opened the floodgates.
Oleksandr Zinchenko’s pass found Saka in the Everton area and the 21-year-old stopped Vitaliy Mykolenko before hitting a powerful strike into the top corner for his 11th goal of the season.
Maupay almost had an immediate reply for Everton with a long-range shot that whistled wide.
Despite that escape, Arsenal were firing on all cylinders and Martinelli stepped up their game in the first half of the game.
Saka was given the lead at this point when he snatched away from the sleeping Idrissa Gueye and found Martinelli, who headed home from distance for a goal that was disallowed after a VAR check for a claim. pressure against Brazil.
Odegaard put the result beyond doubt in the 71st minute when the Arsenal captain beat Jordan Pickford with a volley from Trossard’s cross.
There was still time for the Arsenal powerhouse to find the back of the net in the 80th minute as Nketiah’s cross was tapped by Martinelli at the near post.
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