Everton 2-5 Arsenal: Wizard of Oz has Ronald Koeman on the brink... superb Mesut Ozil inspires Arsene Wenger's side to Goodison Park rout
- Wayne Rooney opened the scoring with a vintage, bending effort from 25 yards to put Everton ahead
- Nacho Monreal levelled before the break when he hammered home a rebound from Grant Xhaka's shot
- Mesut Ozil made the pressure count after the break when he headed home a perfect ball from Alexis Sanchez
- Everton's Idrissa Gueye was then sent off for a second bookable offence to add more misery for the hosts
- Alexandre Lacazette then put the final nail in the coffin when he was found in acres of space and buried it
- Oumar Niasse capitalised on a woeful error from Petr Cech to give the hosts a consolation goal late on
- Alexis Sanchez got in on the party, however, and finished a superb solo effort deep into injury time
- AS IT HAPPENED: Re-live all the action from Sportsmail's minute-by-minute coverage of Premier League tie
Briefly, this threatened to be a throwback afternoon for Everton. A supreme right-foot shot from Wayne Rooney was too much for Arsenal as the 31-year-old struck in the same way, at the same end and against the same opposition as he had famously here 15 years ago.
It was a terrific moment but, ultimately, that is all it turned out to be. A moment, a solitary piece of flimsy nostalgia subsequently buried by the miserable reality of life at modern-day Everton.
Rooney left the field a hero on that day a decade and a half ago. It was to be the start of something, for him at least. This afternoon may merely turn out to be the end for his manager Ronald Koeman.
Alexandre Lacazette netted during a clinical performance from Arsenal, who saw off Everton 5-2 at Goodison Park
Wayne Rooney's opened the scoring for Everton, bending his stunning 25-yard effort beyond Petr Cech in Arsenal's goal
It was Nacho Monreal who levelled things just before the break after the visitors piled the pressure on the Everton goal
But Mesut Ozil's deft header after a pin-point cross from Alexis Sanchez put the Gunners in front after the half-time break
Ozil celebrates as his side make their territory and possession count and seize the initiative from Everton on Merseyside
But it was Lacazette who put the final nail in the coffin when Ozil found him in the Everton box and he stroked home for 3-1
It all became comfortable for Arsenal as Aaron Ramsey helped himself to an easy finish to put them 4-1 up at the end of the 90
Following Oumar Niasse's consolation goal deep into stoppage time, Alexis Sanchez then restored the three-goal cushion
Rooney’s last act here was to be substituted just after Arsenal had clinched the game with a third goal with quarter of an hour left. As he left the field, so did his young team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The striker had broken his nose but still boos rained down on Koeman from the Gwladys Street End. A reign that started well last season has disintegrated into confusion and chaos before winter is even upon us. Can Koeman survive this? It is two wins in 13 now and Everton are getting worse. There is no apparent method to Koeman’s selections or tactics so it is beginning to look very doubtful that he can.
Everton now face a run of slightly more palatable league fixtures and that works in Koeman’s favour, in theory at least. But they are in the bottom three and that might be the trigger for major shareholder Farhad Moshiri to make a decision.
Sanchez skips away from the challenge of Everton defender Michael Keane and tries to mount an attack
Everton boss Ronald Koeman yells from the touchline as his team look for an opener at Goodison Park on Sunday
It was the ex-England captain, Rooney, who broke the deadlock on 12 minutes when he created an opening and swept home
The Toffees striker sprints towards the Goodison faithful as the much-needed goal brings an air of relief around the ground
Certainly, Everton were well beaten here. The game ended haphazardly — three goals coming at the death — and by the end the margin was three. But it should have been greater and Koeman tried to clutch at straws afterwards.
‘The positive was how we started the game,’ Koeman said. That was not true. Everton looked as though they may be swept away by Arsenal’s early forays and the fact the home team actually scored first, in the 12th minute, was a miracle in itself. Everton could have been two down by then.
Maybe Arsenal were the wrong team to play here. Smarting after last week’s defeat at Watford, Arsene Wenger’s side were full of energy and ambition and incisive play. But at the moment everyone would fancy facing Koeman’s team.
Koeman made changes to personnel and formation, starting with a back three. It didn’t work and, by the time the second half started, he had reverted to a back four. If he had a plan for Arsenal, he was hiding it well.
The Gunners created enough chances of their own, however, and Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had to be at his best
Arsene Wenger, who turned 68 on Sunday, watches on glumly as he team pile on the pressure but cannot breach the goal
But Nacho Monreal levelled the tie just before the break when a save from Pickford fell to the Spaniard inside the box
Monreal celebrates with Granit Xhaka, whose shot forced the save from Pickford and allowed the left back to drill home
Rooney’s goal was magnificent — not as good as the one that beat David Seaman here all those years ago but how could it be? His shot swept across Petr Cech, giving the keeper no chance.
Another goal may have taken Everton somewhere, but the speed of Arsenal’s football was too much and, when Nacho Monreal equalised before half-time, all the pieces fell into place for Wenger’s team.
The excellent Mesut Ozil headed in Alexis Sanchez’s cross in the 53rd minute and, once Idrissa Gana Gueye was sent off for a lunge at Granit Xhaka with 22 minutes left, Arsenal eased away with goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Aaron Ramsey. Koeman cited the red card, but Everton had long since lost control of the game. A mix-up between Monreal and Cech gifted Oumar Niasse a goal in added time before Sanchez fired in at the end.
Everton had finished as they had started: meekly. If Koeman’s players are still with him they need to find a different way of showing it.
Nikola Vlasic vies for the ball with Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey as Everton try and hold out until the break
Phil Jagielka leaps to header while Rooney and Keane both challenge for the ball as Arsenal send in a cross from a set-piece
Ozil then stole the initiative for the Gunners at the start of the second half when he latched on to Sanchez's accurate cross
The Blues keeper is helpless as the near-post header flies past him and into the back of the net to give Arsenal a 2-1 lead
The German playmaker makes a bee-line for the Arsenal contingent in the crowd after he put his side in front at Goodison
Ozil is mobbed by his team-mates as they celebrate what would turn out to be a crucial goal in the course of the match
Everton's problems were then compounded when Idrissa Gueye was sent off after being shown his second yellow card
Then Lacazette put the tie to bed when he was found in acres of space in the box and converted with consummate ease
The France international dons a wide smile as he knows his goal will be enough to complete the turnaround at Goodison
But Ramsey had his own ideas and turned the final few minutes into a free-for-all when his 89th-minute strike made it 4-1
Niasse, who had come on for Rooney in the second half, then capitalised on an error from Cech, dispossessing the keeper
The Senegal international then ran through on goal unopposed to score his side's second and make the most of Cech's howler
Sanchez refused not to get in on the act as he single-handedly rounded the Everton defence before unleashing a shot
The shot, rifled diagonally across goal and towards the bottom corner, proved too much for Pickford in the Everton goal
The Chilean superstar celebrates after his side complete the rout by sending five beyond the helpless Toffees at Goodison
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