Arsenal 5-1 Everton: Aaron Ramsey’s hat-trick seals Gunners’ dominant win in Aubameyang’s debut

Several experts were concerned about how Arsenal would look following the departure of Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud.

Despite the fact names such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined the side, many fans were skeptical regarding Arsenal’s attacking line ahead of this game against Everton. But The Gunners played one of their best games of the entire season. Thanks to a dominant first-half performance that saw them score four times, Arsene Wenger’s men cruised their way to a huge 5-1 win. The star of the game was Aaron Ramsey, who scored a hat-trick.

Arsenal dominates right from the start

The Gunners were a team on a mission. They looked very positive as soon as the ball started rolling, and they began to apply heavy pressure on Everton’s defence. With that in mind, it wasn’t strange to see Arsenal scoring the first goal rather quickly. A good passing sequence found Mkhitaryan on the right wing, and his low cross was properly connected by Ramsey who placed the ball home from close range. Arsenal were on top after six minutes, and they would double their lead before the 15th minute mark.

A corner-kick from Mesut Özil found Shkodran Mustafi, and the German nodded the ball from the near into the far post. Laurent Koscielny came out of nowhere and dived to make it 2-0 after 15 minutes. Everton looked helpless, and they wouldn’t change their stance. Arsenal took advantage of that to increase their lead.

Ramsey (following a pass from Alex Iwobi) made it 3-0 in the 19th minute, and Aubameyang made it 4-0 before the break. The former Borussia Dortmund star scored in his first game with The Gunners, but the goal should not have been validated since the Gabonese was offisde. Aubameyang took advantage of a beautiful pass from Mkhitaryan to chipped the ball over Jordan Pickford. The first half ended 4-0, and all signs indicated the game was already over.

An eventful second half on a game that was already decided

Everyone knew Arsenal was going to win the game after half time, and in fact the question seemed to be “by how much”. But contrary to what one would have imagined, The Gunners stepped the foot out of the gas. They allowed Everton to react a bit, and The Toffees managed to pull one back thanks to Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The winger needed just three minutes to find the back of the net. The goal prevented Petr Cech from reaching 200 EPL games with a clean sheet.

To make things more complicated, Cech left the game afterwards with an injury and David Ospina took his place. Cech’s injury does not come at a good time for Arsenal considering the Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 playoffs are on the horizon. But there was more. Ramsey had one final say in the game, as the Wales international completed his hat-trick with a shot from inside the box following a low cross from Mkhitaryan. The Armenian registered three assists, and showed what everyone were expecting. He fits perfectly to Wenger’s tactical system.

Arsenal ended cruising their way with absolute ease on their way to a massive win.  And while they will have tougher challenges in coming weeks, this game was the perfect proof to make fans believe they might not miss Alexis after all. It was a dominant win for The Gunners, and names such as Ramsey and Mkhitaryan should boost their confidence following this impressive display.

Match Report

Arsenal: Cech (5) (Ospina (6), 70′); Bellerin (5), Mustafi (7), Koscielny (7), Monreal (6) (Kolasinac (6), 46′); Ramsey (9) (Wilshere (-), 75′), Xhaka (7); Iwobi (6), Özil (7), Mkhitaryan (8); Aubameyang (7)

Everton: Pickford (5); Keane (5) (Davies (6), 46′), Williams (6), Mangala (4); Kenny (5), Schneiderlin (6), Gueye (5), Martina (7); Walcott (5) (Calvert-Lewin (7), 61′), Niasse (5) (Tosun (-), 78′), Bolasie (5)

Goals: Ramsey (6′, 19′, 74), Koscielny (14′), Aubameyang (37′) ; Calvert-Lewin (64′)

Yellow Cards: Koscielny (24′), Mustafi (50′)

Red Cards: None