Arsenal have moved to within one point of the top four courtesy of a 4-1 win over Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium this afternoon.
Goals from Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil appeared to have put the Gunners on their way to a comfortable victory in a fixture which has developed into a fierce rivalry in recent years, but Peter Crouch pulled one back in controversial fashion to put the pressure on Arsene Wenger's side.
However, an Alexis Sanchez strike restored the two-goal lead before Giroud capped off the scoring with his second of the evening to wrap up a three crucial points for the visitors.
The Gunners were winless in their previous six visits to Stoke prior to today's match, but they quickly settled into the game and it took a fine stop from Jack Butland to keep the scores level after nine minutes when he clawed Shkodran Mustafi's looping header over the crossbar.
Arsenal would have been surprised by how easy the opening exchanges were against a team who they have traditionally struggled against, but the visitors failed to turn their dominance into goals and Nacho Monreal's first touch let him down when well placed in the box shortly afterwards.
Monreal's runs down the left channel were a recurring problem for Stoke, though, and the Spaniard should have broken the deadlock after 17 minutes when he hit the upright with a header after Ryan Shawcross had inadvertently flicked the ball towards the back post.
It took until just before the half-hour mark for Stoke to have their first attempt after Mustafi brought Xherdan Shaqiri down with a reckless challenge outside the area, but Marko Arnautovic could only curl his free kick over the crossbar from 25 yards.
Despite Arsenal's dominance, it wasn't until the 34th minute that any of their attacking players had a shot on goal, with Sanchez pouncing on a loose ball following a mistake from Glen Johnson only to see his subsequent low strike ripple the side-netting on its way behind.
Stoke had begun to grow into the game by that stage, but Arsenal's opening goal was still deserved when it arrived just three minutes before half time as Giroud tapped Hector Bellerin's low cross into an unguarded net from close range.
The home fans inside the bet365 Stadium greeted the half-time whistle with boos after an uninspiring first-half display from their side, and their mood was not improved 10 minutes after the restart when Arsenal doubled their advantage.
Ozil played a one-two with Sanchez, whose return ball was inch-perfect to split the defence and pick out Ozil in the box, allowing the German to take a touch before clipping a classy finish past Butland.
That left Stoke with a lot to do having failed to even look like scoring one up until that point, but they should have halved the deficit on the hour mark when Mame Biram Diouf could only nod Arnautovic's cross wide of the target from close range.
Mark Hughes turned to his bench in an attempt to get his side back into the match as Crouch and Saido Berahino were introduced, and the subs made an impact as Stoke began to put Arsenal under prolonged pressure for the first time in the game.
Petr Cech was forced into his first save when he turned a header from Bruno Martins Indi over the bar, but there was nothing the Arsenal keeper could do when Stoke controversially pulled a goal back shortly afterwards.
On first glance it looked as though Crouch had given his side hope with a firm header from Arnautovic's cross at the near post, but replays showed that the sub had actually used his hand to steer the ball past Cech.
Stoke wasted little time in concerning themselves with the legality of the goal, though, and a frenetic period of the match followed as the hosts looked to build on their momentum having finally come to life.
Cech made one routine stop to deny Berahino during that period, but the hosts' revival was soon stopped in its tracks as Sanchez - struggling with an injury at the time - restored Arsenal's two-goal cushion.
The Chilean had asked to be substituted after seemingly tweaking his thigh a couple of minutes before, but that didn't prevent him from firing an effort into the bottom corner via a deflection off Shawcross.
It was Sanchez's 50th Premier League goal in his 101st game for the Gunners, with only Ian Wright and Thierry Henry having reached the half-century in fewer matches.
Sanchez was duly taken off immediately afterwards, but his replacement Aaron Ramsey kept the pressure on the Stoke defence and almost scored within one minute of his introduction when his low drive was kept out by Butland.
Ramsey, who infamously broke his leg in this fixture seven years ago to spark the fierce animosity between the clubs, did have a major part to play moments later when Arsenal got their fourth goal as he snuck in behind the defence before firing a low cross into the middle which Giroud was on hand to convert from close range once again.
Cech was forced into one final save to deny Geoff Cameron's well-struck volley five minutes from time, and that could prove to be crucial as Arsenal took their goal difference to level that of Liverpool while overtaking the Reds in the goalscoring stakes.
Liverpool have the chance to restore their four-point gap to the Gunners when they face West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday, but any slip-up from Jurgen Klopp's side would allow Arsenal to claim a place in next season's Champions League with wins over Sunderland and Everton in their final two games of the campaign.
The win is only Arsenal's second away to Stoke in their last 12 league attempts - a run which stretches back to 1982 - while the Gunners have now also won three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since December as they bid to make it 21 top-four finishes in a row.
Stoke, on the other hand, remain 13th in the table and can no longer achieve a fourth consecutive top-half finish, while they need at least a draw in their final game of the season away to Southampton to avoid recording their lowest ever Premier League points tally.
Barney Corkhill
