Two goals in three second-half minutes gave Arsenal victory over Everton and took them up to sixth in the Premier League table. Following a tight first half, in which Dominic Calvert-Lewin squandered a fine second-minute opening for Everton, the Gunners asserted control after the break. Alexandre Lacazette swept a curling shot into the top corner from the edge of the area after Aaron Ramsey’s pass. Shortly after, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang poked in from close range after Mesut Ozil broke down the right, cut the ball back and Ramsey nudged it into the path of the Gabon international.

Replays suggested that Aubameyang was offside from Ramsey’s touch, though Everton could have few complaints from that point as a third for the hosts was more likely than a comeback from Marco Silva’s side. Everton had looked the more likely to score for 56 minutes at the Emirates, until Lacazette rifled in a superb opener. Two minutes and 57 seconds later, the visitors were two goals down. The Gunners had managed just one shot on target in the first half, with Jordan Pickford making a smart save from Nacho Monreal, but their superior quality in attack showed after the break as the club’s two most expensive signings quickly put the game beyond the Toffees.

Aubameyang appeared to be offside for the second, but Ozil was given time and space to pick out Ramsey in the build-up as a shell-shocked Everton left young full-back Jonjoe Kenny to deal with a three-on-one situation in their own area. Aubameyang and Lacazette are forming a potent partnership for Unai Emery’s side, both scoring in three of the past five Premier League games they have started together, while only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, with 16, has scored more than the Gabon striker’s 12 league goals since his Gunners debut in February. Emery may have been more satisfied with proceedings at the other end as Arsenal kept their first clean sheet of his tenure, although goalkeeper Petr Cech was largely to thank for that.