Gabriel Jesus capped off his comeback from injury by scoring twice to help us cruise to victory against Leeds United.
The Brazilian tucked home a penalty on 35 minutes to register his first goal since October, and two minutes into the second half Ben White doubled our lead after some fine work by Gabriel Martinelli.
Then Jesus completed his brace on 55 minutes when he tucked home a Leandro Trossard ball, and despite Ramsus Kristensen netting a consolation, we wrapped things up when Granit Xhaka headed home to put the gloss on our seventh-straight Premier League win - the first time that’s happened under Mikel Arteta.
Gabby gets his goal
The first half was a quiet affair and for the majority of it, the visitors looked liveliest, right from the opening exchanges. Just like Bournemouth did last month, they nearly caught us cold straight from the kick-off, and Aaron Ramsdale was forced into his first save after just eight seconds when he pushed away a Kristensen strike.
Searching for his first goal for six months, Jesus had a great chance when he was picked out in space by Granit Xhaka but headed over, but Leeds - and Crysencio Summerville in particular - kept looking dangerous on the counter-attack, and the Dutchman was next to test Ramsdale when he played a one-two with Marc Roca to get inside our box but his effort was tame.
A minute later though, a neat passing move ended with him teeing up Jack Harison to try his luck from a tight angle and this time our shot-stopper was forced to parry his firm strike to safety.
We needed a spark, and 10 minutes before the break we got it when Jesus pulled out his bag of tricks inside the area. He first fooled his way past Kristensen and then bamboozled Ayling before he was tripped by our former academy product. Darren England pointed to the spot, allowing the Brazillian to coolly tuck the ball down the middle from 12 yards to end his long wait for a goal.
Stunning start to second half
After our sluggish start to the first 45, we made amends after the restart and quickly wrapped up the points with two further goals. Some Martinelli magic created the first, which saw him pick up possession on the edge of the box and trick his way past Ayling to send a teasing ball across the face of goal, and White appeared at the back post to finish it off and come back to haunt his former club.
And then on 55 minutes, Jesus doubled his tally for the afternoon. He started and finished the move, initially feeding the ball into Leandro Trossard who twisted and turned into the box, allowing the Brazilian to return to the heart of the action and tuck away his teammate’s pass and score his seventh of the season.
He was soon replaced by Bukayo Saka to a rapturous ovation by the home supporters, but Leeds kept pushing and carved out further good opportunities with Ramsdale denying Brendan Aaronson from close range before Kristensen blazed over when well-placed.
Xhaka wraps things up
However the Dane got on the scoresheet 15 minutes from time when Harrison charged forward and saw his cross spin into his path, and the shot deflected off Zinchenko before finding its way into the net.
But we restored our three-goal lead with six minutes remaining when Martin Odegaard was allowed too much time and space to fizz over a fine pass into the path of the onrushing Xhaka, and he headed past Meslier to score for the third-straight game in our colours.
What it means
We restored our eight-point lead at the top of the table, having seen the gap cut following Manchester City’s 4-1 win against Liverpool in the early kick-off on Saturday.
Facts and stats
We have won all seven of our Premier League games on April 1st by an aggregate score of 25-3. It's the best 10p per cent win record a side has on a specific date.
Leeds have lost 17 Premier League games against us, their joint-most defeats against an opponent (also 17 against Liverpool and Man Utd).
We have won three consecutive Premier League games by a margin of 3+ goals for the first time since October 2015.
Despite only joining the club in January, Leandro Trossard has the joint-second highest number of Premier League assists for us this season (7). Indeed, since his debut, he's got the most assists of any player in the competition.
Gabriel Jesus scored his sixth and seventh Premier League goals for us, and first since October against Spurs. All seven have come in London.
Gabriel Martinelli has two goals and two assists in his four Premier League games against Leeds – against no side does he have more goal involvements (also four against Everton and West Ham).
After failing to score in any of his first 15 Premier League appearances, Rasmus Kristensen has now found the net in his last two games.
Granit Xhaka has 12 goal involvements in all competitions this season (7 goals, 5 assists), his best return in a single campaign for us.
What’s next
We head to Anfield next Sunday to take on Liverpool, before we’re on our travels again the week after when we face West ham United in a London derby.
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