Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has credited "magic moments" from Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko for sparking the Gunners' goal rush in Wednesday's 4-0 win over Everton.
A few weeks on from going down 1-0 to Sean Dyche's men at Goodison Park, Arsenal were faced with yet another tedious challenge of trying to break down a low block at the Emirates Stadium.
The Toffees held out for 40 minutes in North London, but a smart link-up between Zinchenko and Saka broke the visitors' resistance, with the former finding his English colleague to fire home into the roof of the net.
Gabriel Martinelli doubled Arsenal's lead just before the break, and the Gunners added another two in the second half through captain Martin Odegaard and another strike for Martinelli.
Arsenal's third Premier League win in a row has allowed them to re-establish a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, and Arteta paid a special tribute to the two players involved in the game's opening goal.
"You have to produce those magic moments and as you said, take that initiative and have the mentality that 'I'm going to do it on the pitch - I'm not going to wait for somebody else to do it,'" Arteta said in his post-game press conference, as quoted by arsenal.com.
"When you have a few players with the willingness and capacity to do that, you have a better chance to win more games. We needed a magic moment there and Alex and Bukayo produced that."
Following Saka's opener, the 21-year-old robbed a stagnant Idrissa Gueye of the ball for Martinelli to score just before the break, and the offside flag initially went up against the Brazilian before a VAR review awarded the goal.
After the break, Odegaard got in on the act with a deflected effort from close range, and Martinelli made it 11 goals for the Premier League season with a finish through Jordan Pickford's legs after Eddie Nketiah's smart cutback.
Saka and Martinelli have now both hit double digits for the Premier League season, and Arteta revealed that the pair "never have enough information" as they strive to improve further.
"It's a credit to them because in the end, they have to do it themselves, but we try to help them with our way of playing by trying to get them in those positions as much as possible," the Spaniard added.
"They are so willing to learn, they are asking for more and more every single day, and they never have enough information, they want more. They want the space, they want the practice and at the end when you have that and you have the talent that they have and the ideas that they have, at the end good things will happen."
Wednesday's victory was not a perfect affair for Arsenal, though, as Arteta also revealed that Jorginho's half-time withdrawal for Thomas Partey was illness-related, and Nketiah limped off the field at full time.
The 23-year-old had initially filled the Gabriel Jesus role admirably following his teammate's injury, but he has now been benched for Arsenal's last two Premier League contests due to a knock.
However, Arteta is optimistic that Nketiah's problem is not a serious one, adding: "Hopefully he is fine, he ended the game well but he has been carrying a little thing."
Next up for Arsenal - who have amassed 60 points from their 25 league games this season - is a home clash against relegation-threatened Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon. body check tags ::
