Arsenal 5 - 0 Huddersfield Town: Arsenal hammer Huddersfield to strengthen top four spot

Posted Thursday, November 30, 2017 by PA

Arsenal strengthened their position in the Premier League top four as they made light work of Huddersfield to maintain their healthy home form.

The Gunners have now won their last 12 games at the Emirates Stadium and they eased to a 5-0 victory as Mesut Ozil once again starred in front of the home fans.

Alexandre Lacazette gave the hosts the perfect start with his seventh of the season and, although the Terriers rallied, they were blown away in the second half as Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Ozil all struck in a four-minute blitz, with Giroud adding another late on.

Arsene Wenger's side won with a last-gasp penalty at Burnley on Sunday for just their second league win on the road this season and, with Manchester United the visitors on Saturday, their home form is likely to go a long way in determining what they can achieve.

Huddersfield held firm against Manchester City for so long at the weekend but they were undone within three minutes.

Granit Xhaka played in Aaron Ramsey whose deft flick found Lacazette and Arsenal's record signing made no mistake with a smart finish past Jonas Lossl.

The hosts were calm in possession from that point on but did not create a second chance until after the half-hour mark as Lacazette came so close to adding to his tally.

Xhaka fed the forward who collected the ball almost on the touchline, lofting a superb chip over Lossl only to see Martin Cranie clear with Sead Kolasinac somehow blazing the rebound high over the crossbar.

Huddersfield wanted a penalty soon after as Steve Mounie went down under pressure from Shkodran Mustafi but referee Graham Scott was unmoved.

Laurent Koscielny was then on hand to make a last-ditch block to prevent Collin Quaner equalising from Mounie's pass as Arsenal became more wasteful in possession.

Lacazette came off at the interval to be replaced by compatriot Giroud as it was Huddersfield who had the best chance at the start of the second half, Petr Cech saving superbly to keep out Quaner.

Cech was again brought into action as he awkwardly palmed the ball against his own crossbar and behind for a corner after Mounie's shot took a huge deflection off Nacho Monreal.

Giroud was guilty of missing a great opportunity to double Arsenal's advantage as he picked up Ramsey's pass and rounded Lossl only to hit the post and skew the rebound wide.

He made up for that miss by tucking away his next chance, turning home from close-range after a neat exchange between Ozil and Sanchez.

Ozil would again turn provider 76 seconds later as he crossed for Sanchez to secure the points as he buried his effort past a helpless Lossl.

The Germany international then registered his own strike, collecting another smart pass from Ramsey before dinking the ball into the corner. Giroud's second, three minutes from time sealed a comfortable win for the Gunners.