Arteta lauds Arsenal for a ‘convincing’ victory over Everton

The Gunners were back to their best as they thrashed Everton 4-0 at home. Mikel Arteta praised his players for finding a way to win against an Everton side that seemed tough to crack in the opening 40 minutes.

But the moment of magic came when a beautiful pass from Zinchenko found Saka, who scored an absolute screamer to unlock the game for the Gunners late in the first half. Martinelli then scored just before the break.

The second half was a different story altogether. The

proceeded to give a performance of the champions, completely dominating Everton. Odegaard managed to capitalize on Arsenal’s pressure with a third goal which was then followed by a second goal from Martinelli.

The win gave the Gunners a 5-point cushion over pursuers Manchester City at the top of the table with both teams having 13 matches left in the season.

"I'm happy, we won in a convincing way after 20 or 25 minutes in the first half where we had some difficulties attacking that block, with the really good organization they have,"

Arteta told Sky Sports.

"We were getting a little bit frustrated and allowed them to run in transition in a few moments.

"But afterwards we got control of the game, we scored two goals in perfect time, I would say, just before the break.

"Then the second half was really convincing, the way we attacked them, the composure in the box to score the goals that we wanted… I'm really happy.

"Everton posed some real questions – especially with how we could attack against that block, as they are really good at that.

"But we also had to not give them a license to grow into the game, to play close to our goal and produce set-pieces, and I think we did that really well."

This was Arsenal’s 100th win over

which has set a record for a team to have a century of wins against a specific opponent in English league history.

Follow 

 for the