On evenings like this, Arsenal are wonderful to behold. And if the manager were not 67, you would be tempted to say a new era was dawning and a fresh assault on the Premier League might be building.
Aaron Ramsey scored a hat-trick yet could easily have been challenged for man of the match by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was outstanding.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scored on his debut – an offside goal, admittedly, but it stood – with the most-impudent finish.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring his first Arsenal goal as Arsenal ran out emphatic 5-1 winners against Everton
The Gabon striker scored Arsenal’s fourth goal before running straight to provider and fellow new recruit Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Aubameyang, who joined last month, is mobbed by his Arsenal team-mates on a cold and rainy Emirates on Saturday evening
The striker is pictured chipping the onrushing Jordan Pickford to put Arsenal 4-0 ahead after just 37 minutes on Saturday
Arsenal’s record-signing was slightly offside for his goal but the goal was awarded during the home side’s comfortable win
Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey enjoyed an evening to remember as he netted a hat-trick against Everton on Saturday
The 27-year-old Arsenal midfielder marks his third goal with a hat-trick celebration during the second-half at the Emirates
Ramsey fires home his third goal first-time past Pickford as Mkhitaryan secured his third assist of an impressive display
PLAYER RATINGS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE
Arsenal: Cech (Ospina 69), Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal (Kolasinac 45), Ramsey (Wilshere 74), Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Aubameyang.
Subs: Lacazette, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Elneny.
Scorers: Ramsey 6, 19, 73, Koscielny 14, Aubameyang 37
Booked: Koscielny, Mustafi
Everton: Pickford, Keane (Davies 45), Williams, Mangala, Kenny, Schneiderlin, Gueye, Martina, Walcott (Calvert-Lewin 60), Niasse (Tosun 77), Bolasie.
Subs: Rooney, Tosun, Sigurdsson, Holgate, Robles.
Scorers: Calvert-Lewn 64
Referee: Neil Swarbrick
- Premier League
- Premier League
- Championship
- League One
- League Two
- Scottish Premiership
- Scottish Div 1
- Scottish Div 2
- Scottish Div 3
- Ligue 1
- Serie A
- La Liga
- Bundesliga
This is how Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his first goal for Arsenal. CLICK HERE to find out more from our brilliant MATCH ZONE.
And Mesut Ozil was revived and refreshed by his new team-mates, impishly evading Everton and dictating affairs.
At times it looked like the Arsenal of old, like those wonderful teams Arsene Wenger coaxed into existence in his first ten years in this country.
And maybe a change has come. Maybe those more experienced players of proven quality will bring the fortitude so often missing from the last ten years of Wenger’s reign.
Wiser heads though will reserve judgement for now. There is a reason why this team are sixth. Everyone knows they have these performances in them. They’ve done it before and not just two weeks ago against Crystal Palace. They’ve done it this season against Tottenham at home or last season against Chelsea in the FA Cup final, Manchester City in the semi final, or Chelsea again at The Emirates in the Premier League. But they have also been responsible for the performances at Swansea, Bournemouth, Watford and Stoke and fallen apart against Liverpool.
No one doubts their talent; it is their temperament which in question and which Aubamayang and Mkhitaryan have been bought to improve. Still, their debutants had as gentle an introduction to The Emirates imaginable. Everton were awful. Having done the mid-season revival sparked by the genius new manager and scrambled clear of the dogfight, they seem content to revert to form which got the previous manager the sack. That’s five defeats in seven games and they should be grateful for the mediocrity below them.
Mesut Ozil and Aubameyang enjoy a water break as the Gunners ran riot against Sam Allardyce’s struggling side
Ramsey gave Arsenal a commanding 3-0 lead after only 19 minutes with a long-range shot that went in via a deflection
Pickford fails to save Ramsey’s deflected shot as Everton found themselves three goals down early in Saturday’s showdown
Ramsey celebrates his second goal while his former team-mate Theo Walcott and Michael Keane show their disappointment
Aubameyang gives the thumbs up to Ramsey during Arsenal’s rampant first half of the Premier League encounter
Everyone knows what Arsenal’s fallibilities are on foggy nights in Swansea. It didn’t take the arrival of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan to convince us that, when they put their mind to it, they can be quite ruthless. That, in itself, is not the problem. The issue is that they choose not to play like this so often.
Still, it was hard to begrudge Wenger his moment of pleasure. Of course they were considerably aided by an Everton side struggling to get to grips with a back three which looked completely alien to the players. Poor Eliaquim Mangala. This was neither a system nor a debut designed to restore his reputation. And by the end of the half, an absent-minded assistant referee was aiding their cause, wholly unnecessarily.
Despite all of that, Arsenal were a delight to watch, a throwback to the Wenger days of old. And though we’d all come to watch Aubameyang – miraculously over the flu bug which had dogged him all week – it was Mkhitaryan who initially excelled.
He made his debut coming on to join the Swansea debacle but this must have felt more like what he imagined he had signed up for. Ozil seems invigorated by his new team-mates, posturing in the No.10 role with the swagger he has at his best. Just six minutes in, he slipped the ball into Aubameyang, who touched it on to his former Borussia Dortmund team-mate Mkhitaryan. Dashing down the right, he eluded Everton and crossed for Ramsey, who walked it into the net.
Laurent Koscielny celebrates putting Arsenal 2-0 ahead in the 14th minute in front of the ecstatic home supporters
Koscielny is congratulated by Aubameyang after scoring the Gunners’ second of the evening against the Toffees
The France international heads home from close range after Shkodran Mustafi flicked on at the near post from a corner
Three minutes passed and Mkhitaryan shot just wide and then Aubamyang scuffed a chance but no matter: on 15 minutes Ozil’s corner was flicked on by Shkodran Mustafi and his header in turn was met by the diving head of Laurent Koscielny to score, with Aubamayang lurking cautiously behind the Frenchman, seemingly unsure whether it would be rude to steal the chance off his captain.
Alex Iwobi and Ozil, with work down the left, carved out the third. The space afforded Ramsey to tee up his strike from 20-yards out will not be an easy watch for Everton players in their video analysis on Monday morning. His shot hit Mangala and deflected past Jordan Pickford.
Before for the fourth, Everton did actually venture out of their half. It was the returning Theo Walcott who dared do so, out-running his former team-mates, turning inside Nacho Monreal, and shooting only to see his moment ruined by Mustafi’s diving tackle deflecting the striker wide.
All that really remained to make it the perfect half was a goal for the £55m record signing to score. He fluffed the first great chance on 32 minutes, when his swift counter attack and strike was repelled by Pickford,
That only made the poise and confidence of his finish on 37 minutes all the more admirable. It was, however, a good half yard offside, something assistant ref Con Hatzidakis somehow missed. Still, that aside, he announced himself in some style
Ramsey opened the scoring for the Gunners on six minutes after fine play down the right wing from Arsene Wenger’s side
Ramsey wheels off to celebrate with his team-mates after opening the scoring in the early stages against Everton
Ramsey is mobbed by Mkhitaryan and Co after the former Manchester United midfielder set the Welshman up for his goal
Ramsey is pictured firing the ball past Everton shot-stopper Pickford early on in Saturday’s Premier League clash
Former Arsenal forward Walcott, who joined Everton in January, endured a tough time on his first return to the Emirates
Dominic Calvert-Lewin grabbed a consolation goal for Everton in the 64th minute just moments after coming on as a sub
The young English striker heads home past Petr Cech after beating Sead Kolasinac to a ball into the penalty area
Calvert-Lewin is pictured heading past Cech, whose wait for his 200th Premier League clean sheet goes on
Walcott received a standing ovation on his return to the Emirates after signing for Everton in the January transfer window
Played in by Mkhitaryan – again – and clean through he opted for the delicate chip over Pickford. It was a delight and spoke of a self-assurance not evident in centre forwards in these parts since the departure of Robin van Perise. It might have been five before half time, Monreal hitting a post and then having a shot deflected wide. It hardly mattered, of course, so dominant were the all-new Arsenal.
Having been so abject in the first half, Everton opted to make a fight of the second period. Tom Davies replaced Michael Keane and they looked much more at home with a back four. They even hit a post on 52 minutes, Walcott’s cross being met by Oumar Niasse, who slid in bravely under threat from Cech only to see the woodwork save Arsenal.
However, Arsenal had slackened off, as they did having beaten Crystal Palace in twenty two minutes last month. And Everton took advantage with Davies finding Yannick Bolasie, who broke down the left and lifted in a cross which was met superbly by another substitute, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. It didn’t spark trepidation at The Emirates nor a great revival. It was perhaps an unwelcome reminder though that Arsenal’s potential failings.
They did however restore their advantage on 74 minutes. Everton woefully failed to clear the ball out wide and Mkhitaryan pounced, cross and – yet again – Ramsey was on hand to stroke the ball in and complete his first hat-trick for the club to make it 5-1.
Allardyce had an evening to forget at the Emirates as he watched his side fall to a heavy defeat in the Premier League
Arsenal new boy Aubameyang takes on Eliaquim Mangala in the first few minutes at the Emirates on Saturday evening
German defender Mustafi battles for the ball with Everton winger Yannick Bolasie during the early stages of the fixture