ARSENAL IN AUBA DRIVE
Gunners look a team reborn as £56m new striker scores on debut, Mkhitaryan shines and Ramsey hits hat-trick to crush Everton
ON NIGHTS like this, Arsenal are wonderful to behold. And if the manager were not 68, 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. And Mesut Ozil was revived 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 created in his first decade 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 10 years of Wenger’s reign.
Wiser heads, though, will reserve judgment. There is a reason why his team are sixth. Everyone knows they have these performances in them. They did two weeks ago against Crystal Palace. They did it this season against Tottenham at home and 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 defeats by Swansea, Bournemouth, Watford and Stoke and fell apart against Liverpool. No one doubts their talent, it is their temperament which is in question and which Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan have been bought to improve. Still, their new recruits had a gentle introduction to the Emirates.
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 is five defeats in seven games and they should be grateful for the mediocrity below them.
Arsenal, when they put their mind to it, can be quite ruthless. But they were considerably aided by an Everton side struggling to get to grips with a back three. Poor Eliaquim Mangala. This was neither a system nor a debut designed to restore his reputation after his loan move from Manchester City. And by the end of the half, an absent-minded assistant referee was aiding Arsenal’s cause.
And though we’d all come to watch Aubameyang — miraculously over the flu bug which had dogged him all week — it was Mkhitaryan who excelled from the start. The Armenian made his debut as a sub in the debacle at Swansea on
Tuesday but this must have felt more like what he imagined he had signed up for. Ozil seemed invigorated, 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. Three minutes passed and Mkhitaryan shot just wide and then Aubameyang scuffed a chance. No matter, on 14 minutes Ozil’s corner was flicked on by Shkodran Mustafi and was met by the diving head of Laurent Koscielny to score, with Aubameyang lurking cautiously, 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 will not be an easy watch for Everton players in their video analysis tomorrow. His shot hit Mangala and deflected past Jordan Pickford. Before 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, only to see his moment ruined by Mustafi’s diving tackle to deflect his shot wide.
All that remained to make it the perfect half was a goal for the £56million club record signing. He fluffed a 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 more admirable. It was, however, a good half-yard offside, something assistant referee Con Hatzidakis somehow missed. Still, the striker announced himself in some style
Played in by Mkhitaryan — again — and clean through, he opted for the delicate chip over Pickford. It was a delight and spoke of a selfassurance not evident in centreforwards 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, so dominant were the all-new Arsenal.
Having been so abject in the first half, Everton made 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 Petr Cech but hit the woodwork.
However, the Gunners had slackened off, as they did having beaten Crystal Palace in 22 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 of Arsenal’s potential failings, but they restored their advantage on 74 minutes. Everton woefully failed to clear the ball out wide and Mkhitaryan pounced, crossed and Ramsey was on hand to stroke the ball in and complete his first hat-trick for the club.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 6.5 (Ospina 70min, 6); Bellerin 7, Mustafi, 8 Koscielny, 7.5 Monreal 7.5 (Kolasinac 45, 6.5); Xhaka, 6.5 Ramsey 9 (Wilshere 75, 6); Mkhitaryan 9, Ozil 8, Iwobi 7.5; Aubameyang 8. Subs (not used): Lacazette, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, El Neny. Booked: Mustafi, Koscielny.
EVERTON (5-4-1): Pickford 7; Kenny, 6 Keane 4 (Davies 45, 7), Williams 4.5, Mangala 4, Martina 4.5; Walcott, 6.5 (Calvert-Lewin 62, 6.5), Schneiderlin 4.5, Gueye 4,5, Bolassie 6; Niasse 6 (Tosun 80, 6). Subs (not used): Rooney, Sigurdsson, Holgate, Robles. Referee: N Swarbrick 5.5.