LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) – Arsenal opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League as Gabriel Martinelli struck twice in a 4-0 thrashing of relegation-threatened Everton at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
The hosts were initially irritated by their struggling opponents, but goals scored by Bukayo Saka as well as Martinelli just before half-time made them the dominant team and they made the most of their win in the game Manchester City.
Captain Martin Odegaard made it 3-0 by scoring from close range in the 71st minutes before Brazilian Martinelli scored his second goal to finish off the win.
A third consecutive win after losing at home against City helped Mikel Arteta’s team up to 60 points after 25 games. They are tied with the champions City with 55 points.
Everton which have just one win from the last 27 league trips to Arsenal were actually capable of taking something out of the match. However, when they fell behind, the 14th league loss of the season, it was almost an unofficial loss.
They finished third with 21 points despite playing more games than the teams in their vicinity.
While Everton remain afflicted by the prospect of their first exit out of their Premier League, Arsenal are looking forward to a first title since 2004, even though they have yet to play Manchester City in April.
“I am delighted with the win and the way we played after the first 25 minutes. We had some difficulties at the start,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters.
“Once we scored our first goal, the game was became unlocked. We required a magic moment, and Bukayo delivered this. Following that, we grew and earned the right to take the win.
“We played really well in the second half and could have scored more.”
Everton defeated Arsenal with a 1-0 win in Sean Dyche’s very first game as manager in early February . And for forty minutes, they did an efficient job of destroying Arsenal once more.
With halftime just around the corner, they gave in.
Dangerman Saka was a quiet man however he exploded into the limelight to create the breakthrough.
After being given a long time to pivot after receiving the ball from Odegaard at the right-hand edge of the penalty area Odegaard smashed a shot from a lateral angle onto the top of the net.
Everton’s Idrissa Gueye gave Arsenal another goal at the half-time whistle. It was the Senegalese midfielder was found sleeping by Saka who took the ball off of him before slicing a pass to Martinelli who flicked his shot through Jordan Pickford.
The visitors believed they had been saved from a flag for offside, but the VAR decision reversed it. Arsenal came in at halftime to shouts in the form of “we are top of the league” from supporters at home.
With just 17 league goals throughout the season long, it appeared to be a high goal for the shot-shy Everton to get anything going and they provided next to nothing after the break.
Odegaard made his side’s third goal after Leandro Trossard cut-back, and Martinelli added to the gap between the two sides late in the game when he tapped in following Eddie Nketiah’s assistance.
Reporting by Martyn Herman, Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond
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