Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Blades shredded by lethal Gunners
RAMPANT Arsenal made history with a 6-0 win away to Sheffield United as Mikel Arteta’s side moved back to within two points of the Premier League summit.
Having seen title rivals Liverpool edge past Nottingham Forest and Manchester City defeat Manchester United, Mikel Arteta’s men knew they had to respond at the Championshipbound Blades.
Arsenal could easily have struck more than the five firsthalf goals at Bramall Lane, where the mauling was completed by a Ben White thunderbolt.
This was the Gunners’ seventh straight Premier League win and saw them become the first English league side to win three consecutive away games by five or more goals.
United fans watched one the most humiliating first halves in Premier League history, with a Jayden Bogle own goal coming between efforts from Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli in the opening 15 minutes.
Kai Havertz and Declan Rice made it five by half-time, which was greeted by boos from the Blades fans who had not already headed for a pint or an early exit.
White brilliantly fizzed home Arsenal’s sixth – the 10,000th goal in club history – as Arteta rung the changes, including taking off injured Martinelli after withdrawing Bukayo Saka at the break.
Arteta resisted the urge to rest any stars in South Yorkshire as his unchanged side dominated with unerring ease from the outset.
Saka rattled the woodwork inside the opening 70 seconds after a Rice attempt was blocked, with Martinelli seeing his follow-up cleared off the line by Jack Robinson.
Arsenal smelt blood and a slight deflection took a Rice cross into the path of Odegaard to apply a cool fifth-minute finish.
The embarrassment had just begun for the Blades, who saw Bogle inadvertently backheel a low Saka cross into his own net in the 13th minute.
Two minutes later, Arsenal all too easily went from back to front in a move that ended with Martinelli receiving a return pass from Jakub Kiwior in the box and scoring with a strike that went in via a deflection.
Blades boss Chris Wilder moved to a back five as Ben Osborn replaced experienced midfielder Oliver Norwood.
It didn’t help. Martinelli looked like he wanted it more when dispossessing Blades skipper Anel Ahmedhodzic, who could only watch on as Havertz slammed low past Ivo Grbic in the 25th minute.
Tempers threatened to boil over when Bogle received a booking for a frustrated challenge on Odegaard, who soon slipped in Saka to pull back for Rice to sweep home a firsttime effort before the break.
Blades boos greeted the halftime whistle and Wilder made three further changes at the break, while Fabio Vieira replaced star turn Saka.
Martinelli tried to score before White made it six with a 58th-minute stunner.
Havertz brilliantly controlled a Jorginho pass and laid the ball off for the defender to lash home a left-footed effort in front of the away fans.
There was a worrying sight for Arsenal fans in the 64th minute when Martinelli hopped off, supported by a medic and Jorginho.