Gunners five clear of City after winning game in hand
LONDON, England (AP) — Arsenal extended their lead in the English Premier League to five points by beating Everton 4-0 on Wednesday, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring two of the goals in one of his team’s biggest wins of the season.
Everton stunned the leaders with a 1-0 win at home on February 4 but couldn’t reproduce those exploits at Emirates Stadium, where Bukayo Saka put Arsenal in front with a rising shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle in the 40th minute.
The England winger turned provider in the first minute of first-half stoppage time by plucking the ball off the toes of Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye to play in Martinelli, who delivered a low finish.
Martin Ødegaard converted a cut-back from Leandro Trossard in the 71st and Martinelli added a fourth in the 80th to complete a dominant performance from Mikel Arteta’s team, which has now played the same number of games — 25 from a total of 38 — as second-place Manchester City.
In terms of margin of victory, only the 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest in October bettered this result for Arsenal, which has won three straight games to get over a blip where the team collected just one point from a possible nine — including a loss to City. Arsenal are bidding to win the league for the first time since 2004.
Everton stayed in the relegation zone in third-to-last place and have lost three of their last four games under recently hired Manager Sean Dyche. The Merseyside club has played one more game than the rest of the teams in relegation danger.