Mikel Arteta claimed his 100th win as Arsenal manager on a historic day for the Gunners as they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage to re-establish a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
A scintillating first half of attacking dominance saw Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard strike against an abysmal Fulham, as Arsenal became the first team in English Football League history to win five successive away London derbies with five clean sheets.
Unsurprisingly dominating the lion's share of possession from the off, Arsenal's real first sighter of goal in the 16th minute ended with the ball in the back of the net, as Bernd Leno could only parry Martinelli's shot into the path of Antonee Robinson and watch the ball deflect off the left-back over the line.
However, Martinelli had just gone a fraction too early from Granit Xhaka's pass, and Robinson's blushes were spared as the goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Arteta's side came again, though, as Xhaka was on the way down when firing towards goal in the 20th minute, but Leno still had to be alert to prevent the ball from nestling into the corner.
The resulting corner came to nothing, but another set-piece situation in the 21st minute would lead to the breakthrough for Arsenal, as Gabriel rose highest in a crowded box to head home from Leandro Trossard's corner.
After a patient start, Arsenal were soon surging forward with purpose, and William Saliba sought to out-do his centre-back partner with a 35-yard strike in the 25th minute, but the Frenchman's effort was a few inches too high.
Just one minute later, though, another Trossard cross met another Brazilian's head for goal number two, as Martinelli could not miss from a few yards out following the Belgian's chipped ball into the danger area - the Cottagers' defending left a lot to be desired, though.
Clearly missing the indomitable presence of Joao Palhinha, Fulham were being carved open at will by Arsenal and were extremely fortunate not to have been 3-0 down in the 36th minute, as Xhaka was caught in two minds when one-on-one with Leno and could only direct a poor touch into the German's grateful hands.
However, the home crowd cursed their side's lackadaisical defending just before the break, as Odegaard was allowed to take plenty of touches inside the box and pick out the far corner from Trossard's third assist of the day.
Showing more endeavour in the opening 30 seconds of the second half than they did in the whole of the first, Fulham immediately forced a corner through Andreas Pereira's deflected effort off Saliba, although Cottagers players strongly appealed for a handball against the Frenchman - appeals that were quickly waved away.
Nevertheless, Marco Silva's side had their tails up at the start of the second 45, albeit without a clinical edge that could have sparked an unlikely fightback, but Aleksandar Mitrovic nearly provided it in the 69th minute as he hit the bar from a corner.
The Serbian took issue with Adarabioyo's attempts to win the header - potentially putting him off at the crucial moment - but the next set of loud cheers came from the Arsenal contingent in the 76th minute, as Gabriel Jesus made his first appearance since recovering from knee surgery.
The Brazilian nearly marked his comeback game with a goal in the 85th minute following a smart link-up with Fabio Vieira, but Leno was equal to his low effort.
Victory for Arsenal sees them maintain their lead over Manchester City, and the Gunners now prepare for Thursday's Europa League last-16 second leg against Sporting Lisbon, while Fulham remain eighth and travel to Manchester United for next weekend's FA Cup quarter-finals. body check tags ::
