The Gunners' inspirational winger once again stepped up to the mark when his team needed him most in a 4-0 win at the Emirates.
Arsenal hit top gear as they moved five points clear at the top of the table with a thumping 4-0 win against Everton.
Gabriel Martinelli scored twice as Mikel Arteta’s side ran riot in north London, producing a scintillating second-half display which left their shell shocked visitors chasing shadows at times.
It was a third successive win for the Gunners, one that saw them take a commanding grip on the Premier League title race ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Bournemouth.
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were also on target as struggling Everton were swept aside in style.
Below, GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from Emirates Stadium…
GettyWINNER: Bukayo Saka
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. At 21, you can just about call Saka that now.
Yet again, Arsenal’s young winger stepped up when his team needed him the most. With 40 minutes gone, the game was meandering towards half-time without either team threatening to break the deadlock.
Then, with one sharp turn and one thunderous right-foot finish, Saka turned the game on its head and gave Arsenal the breakthrough they desperately needed.
It was a wonderful goal from a wonderful player, who then played a key role in the second when he robbed Idrissa Gueye of possession, allowing Martinelli to race away and score.
It was a five-minute spell that summed up perfectly what Saka is about: hunger, determination and exceptional quality.
That new contract can’t come soon enough.
AdvertisementLOSER: Idrissa Gueye
What the Everton midfielder was thinking when he lost the ball in the build up to Arsenal’s second goal only he will know.
But it was proper amateur hour defending from such an experienced player and it left his side with a mountain to climb in the second half.
Had the visitors gone into the second half only one goal behind they might have had a chance after the interval. But two goals down always looked like an insurmountable deficit to overturn, and so it proved.
GettyWINNER: Oleksandr Zinchenko
Arsenal lacked any sort of quality or creativity in the opening 40 minutes, but then a moment of class from Zinchenko opened things up in the blink of an eye.
The fact that Arsenal’s left-back, frustrated by what he was seeing in front of him, took it upon himself to drift into the right sided No.8 position tells you all you need to know about the freedom he is afforded by Arteta.
It was his overload in midfield that caused Everton problems and the pass he produced to open up the defence and find Saka was pure quality.
LOSER: Jorginho
After such a promising start to his Arsenal career, Jorginho had a real off night here. He really struggled in the first half and was replaced at half-time by Thomas Partey.
For a player who is so comfortable in possession, the Italy international could barely put a pass together and you could see how frustrated he was in himself at times.
The good thing for Arsenal is that they had a player like Partey on the bench to came on and makae a huge difference after the interval.