It was a victory to regain their authority in the title race.
Arsenal went five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with another impressive win to prove they are in for the long haul.
Gabriel Martinelli scored twice to take his tally to 11 goals in the Premier League this season while Bukayo Saka also reached double figures after his opener sparked the rout. Saka must now be a big shout for Player of the Year, Martinelli is unstoppable in this form and they outclassed Everton so badly that the match looked more like a training session by the end.
And the really impressive thing is the way Arsenal have responded because two weeks ago they lost at home to Manchester City, surrendered top spot and it would have been easy to write them off.
But they have shown resilience and mental strength with back-to-back away wins at Aston Villa and Leicester, they have won their game in hand against Everton and now the table has a very different look.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has instilled such belief and confidence in his players that they overcome every challenge with the sort of determination that wins you titles. Arsenal will take some stopping while, in contrast, Sean Dyche’s new manager bounce appears to have worn off because Everton are stuck in the relegation zone and cannot score for toffee.
They could not even force the ball in the net in a last gasp goalmouth scramble and have managed just 17 goals in 25 Premier League games this season and are sinking fast.
No such problems for Arsenal who actually started looking sluggish, their passing was sloppy and it looked as if the expectation levels were weighing on their shoulders.
For 40 minutes, Arsenal laboured, struggled and got frustrated. Then, out of nowhere, they came to life and Everton self destructed. The first goal came five minutes before the break when Oleksandr Zinchenko’s brilliant slide rule pass played in Saka.
The England winger raced forward and then unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of Jordan Pickford’s net to break the deadlock. Another quickly followed in first half injury time. Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye was caught dawdling on the ball, Saka nicked the ball off his toe and immediately played in Gabriel Martinelli.
Martinelli raced through, slotted the ball past Pickford, the offside flag went up and even the Arsenal forward shook his head, thinking he had gone too soon.
But the VAR replays showed that Martinelli was not ahead of the ball when it was played and was onside. Having cursed VAR in recent weeks, this time the Arsenal fans were thankful for the video technology.
There were no prizes for guessing Dyche’s thoughts on Gueye as he was hooked at half time and was replaced by Mason Holgate. Dyche preferring to use a defender in midfield rather than stick with Gueye probably told its own story.
It was a precession in the second half. Arsenal could even preserve their energies for Bournemouth on Saturday as Martin Odegaard got the third after 71 minutes as he fired home from Leandro Trossard’s cross.
Martinelli got his second and Arsenal’s fourth with ten minutes left as he rounded off a super move. Zinchenko’s pass played in substitute Eddie Nketiah and Martinelli converted at the near post.
The Arsenal fans filed out after the final whistle singing: “We’re gonna win the league” as they passed another test of their title credentials.
