Arsenal boosted their chances of claiming one of the Premier League's Champions League berths this afternoon courtesy of a 5-0 home victory over Aston Villa.
The win, which has lifted the Gunners above their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur into fifth, came thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Hector Bellerin.
As for visiting Villa, their wait for a Premier League goal has stretched to a club-record six games as they slip ever closer to the relegation zone.
In a first half that was largely dominated by the home side, it took them just eight minutes to break the deadlock.
Ozil flicked through Per Mertesacker's speculative long clearance into the path of Giroud, who kept his composure to beat Brad Guzan with a chipped effort.
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Guzan was then beaten three more times as the half wore on, but on each occasion the American keeper was bailed out.
First, Villa full-back Alan Hutton showed good awareness to clear Laurent Koscielny's goal-bound header off the line, before Santi Cazorla saw his low strike cannon against the post.
Then, in the 31st minute, Ozil got the better of Guzan, but the German international's celebrations were cut short by an offside decision from the assistant referee.
Up the other end, Villa, who had not scored since Christian Benteke found the net against Manchester United on December 20, created their only chance of the half in the closing stages, but Andreas Weimann's downward header was saved by David Ospina.
While the hosting Gunners had failed to make the most of their domination during the first half, they had no such problems after the restart.
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With 56 minutes on the clock, Giroud returned the favour to Ozil as he sent the playmaker through on goal. Guzan raced off his line to narrow the angle, but the former Real Madrid man was able to squeeze his effort inside the far post.
That was followed seven minutes later by Walcott's second goal in as many outings, which put the outcome beyond any doubt. The England attacker took Cazorla's pass in his stride and bent an effort beyond the reach of Guzan.
It got even worse for the Villa custodian 15 minutes from time when he raced out to confront Arsenal substitute Chuba Akpom, only to succeed in bringing down the young striker.
Guzan got a firm hand to Cazorla's resultant penalty, but he was unable to prevent the Spaniard from scoring the home side's fourth goal of the afternoon.
It seemed that Cazorla's would be Arsenal's final impact on the scoresheet, but young full-back Hector Bellerin drilled in his first goal for the club from the edge of the area, deep into stoppage time.
Liam Apicella
