Arsenal recorded their third successive win in the English Premier League following a crushing 5-0 victory over Aston Villa at the Emirates.
An early opener from Olivier Giroud followed by strikes from Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Hector Bellerin saw the Gunners easily overpower Aston Villa, and climb above rivals Tottenham Hotspur into fifth place in the Premier League.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made two changes – Ozil and Walcott coming in for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez – to his side that beat Manchester City.
Both these players were involved early on as the Gunners started attacking right from the whistle.
Walcott, after using his pace to outrun Villa's defence, advanced forward before firing an effort from the edge of the box. The effort, however, did not trouble goalkeeper Brad Guzan as Jores Okore stuck out a foot to deflect the ball for a corner.
Five minutes later, the game saw its first goal as Arsenal broke the deadlock through Giroud.
Ozil did brilliantly to flick a lofted pass from Per Mertesacker into the path of Giroud, who advanced forward and chipped the ball past Guzan.
Arsenal nearly doubled their advantage in the 28th minute as Guzan was completely beaten by a low drive from Cazorla. However, the Spaniard was very unlucky as his effort came back off the post.
Despite the Gunners dominance, the visitors also got a very good chance to level the score in the closing stages of the first half as Carles Gil picked out Andreas Weimann with an excellent inswinging cross. Although Gil was able to connect with a header, an alert David Ospina did well to stop the striker's effort and preserve Arsenal's lead.
Villa seemed a little more determined after the break, but Arsenal, taking advantage of the visitors' vulnerability on the counter, soon doubled their lead through Ozil in the 56th minute.
Giroud, after picking a pass from Walcott, sent a brilliant ball into the path of Ozil, who was able to easily slide the ball past Guzan.
Seven minutes later, the game was put beyond doubt as Arsenal netted their third goal of the night through Walcott.
The England winger, after being released by Ospina with a quick throw-out on the left wing, played an excellent one-two with Cazorla before curling the ball into the far corner of the net.
Things went from bad to worse for Villa in the 75th minute as Arsenal were awarded a penalty following Guzan's foul on substitute Chuba Akpom.
Cazorla stepped up and scored Arsenal's fourth goal of the night despite Guzan getting a strong hand on the ball.
Finally right-back Bellerin added the icing on the cake as he found the net in the second minute of added time. Cazorla cut the ball back for Bellerin, and the youngster fired in an excellent 25-yard effortoff the inside of far post.
