Gunners blow away Everton.

Gunners blow away Everton.

The daggers are out at Goodison Park. The knives have been sharpened and the fans are understandably restless. Now an Everton decline looks to be much steeper than any had thought possible before the beginning of the Premier League season. There is a definite air of hostility at good old Goodison and those far distant days of Colin Harvey, Alan Ball and Howard Kendall must be rather like crackling old footage of a once great Hollywood era. The reality is though that Everton have now dropped into the Premier League relegation zone although worryingly for Everton this is not the first time this has happened.

After a multi million pound expenditure on new players, Everton boss Ronald Koeman, who once knocked England out of a crucial World Cup qualifier in 1993, must have wished that he'd have been able to rely on as accommodating a defence as England offered that night. The truth is though that Everton now look like an ageing gnarled tree, a knotted and twisted mass of sloppiness and slovenliness. Harry Catterick would have hidden his face away shamefacedly in the hope that nobody could see him.

 Sadly Koeman was burdened with an Everton team torn to shreds by an Arsenal side of such overwhelming brilliance and virtuosity that even Everton chairman Bill Kenwright had to grudgingly applaud through gritted teeth. Life was never like this for Kenwright in Coronation Street. Mind you he probably didn't have to face the likes of Hilda Ogden or Ken Barlow at Goodison. One soap opera is more than enough to prey on Kenwright's troubled mind.

Arsenal gorged on a five goal feast at Goodison and even Wayne Rooney's opening goal against Arsenal which mirrored his remarkable goal on his teenage debut seemed redundant as the goal he scored almost 15 years later was no more than a token consolation against a much more lenient Everton defence. Rooney shortly vanished from areas of the pitch he may well have taken full advantage of in his Everton youth. This time it was Arsenal who seemed to take the Mickey out of Everton's once prodigal son.

 Now in this Sunday goal- scoring blizzard of goals a much more lethal Arsenal devoured Everton with all the hungry rapacity of a team whose dazzling variety of passing left the neutrals gasping for superlatives. It was short, short, short, quick, quick, quick, the ball speeding from one Arsenal foot to another with a beguiling artistry and freedom. Arsenal were once again treating the ball with all the care and benevolence that a mother affords her young child.

From the very start Arsenal announced themselves as prominent contenders for the Premier League title. This was much more like the Arsenal side who once swept all comers side almost arrogantly away from their Emirates Stadium. They flicked and tapped the ball between themselves as if Everton were just a creaky blue fence about to be blown down by an autumnal wind. There was an  animal magnetism about their passing that must have rankled with all the Goodison grumblers. Even the ever present church overlooking Goodison looked suitably sombre. The local parishioners will attend their Sunday mass with faces like thunder.

Once Mezut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka with the capable co-operation of Nacho Monreal darting forward with tireless overlaps from his defensive role, Arsenal purred and flowed across these once unforgettable 1966 World Cup acres with all the mastery and sophistication that we've come to expect from a side built by Arsene Wenger. There is a classical poise and precision about Arsenal's football that perhaps their most critical fans must have thought they'd completely forgotten about.

When Nacho Monreal equalised for Arsenal after a Xhaka shot had kindly rebounded to him with the firmest shot, Arsenal's football rippled and glistened across Goodison. It was the kind of football that used to distinguish Everton's neighbours Liverpool during the hazy days of the 1970s and 80s. There was a bewitching speed and accuracy about their passing that almost bordered on the gold standard. The passes and angles were an almost object lesson to the rest of the Premier League season in how to both pass and move simultaneously without pausing for breath. It was indeed breathless at times.

In the second half Arsenal once again picked up the baton and once again the ball seemed to ping and whizz like the proverbial silver ball on a pinball machine. Every time Arsenal surged forward, a huge sigh could be heard across most of Merseyside. Mezut Ozil headed home Arsenal's second following another perfectly weighted Sanchez cross and once again looked the player who had once given such radiant promise last season. He continues though to look like a bear with a sore and very irascible head and the moping self pity at times must be infuriating for the Emirates faithful. Still the German midfielder showed himself off to flattering effect and frequently dictated the tempo of the game in central areas of the pitch.

When Alexandra Lacazette simply took any remaining sting with Arsenal's third goal after yet more jiggery pokery down the flanks, Arsenal had entered another realm of superiority. The game had now become a simple formality for Arsenal and finally Arsene Wenger could unzip his grey track suit with complete impunity. The good times were now rolling for the black shirted men from the Emirates. How dark can the soul of the game be for an Everton side who are not only struggling but are also completely devoid of attacking ideas.

Then the increasingly impressive Aaron Ramsey added salt to Everton's festering wounds with a superbly taken fourth for Arsenal following hard on some more devious scheming from the men in black with pink sponsors on their shirts. It had to be seen to be believed. The Highbury traditionalists would have been speechless. Football has become more daring and garish than ever before but an Arsenal side in black felt like the deepest insult to the club's history. There were players wearing boots that must have followed Judy Garland on the Yellow Brick Road when the Wizard of Oz turned technicolour.

By now the howling and raging hordes on the vast Goodison terraces were beginning to bay for blood but totally unaware of how to solve a problem like Ronald Koeman. Some were even harking back wistfully to the days when Howard Kendall sprinkled the Midas touch over all Evertonians. Oh for the old First Division League championship when everything seemed perfectly right. Kevin Sheedy, Trevor Steven and Paul Bracewell combined to give the Everton supporters some of their finest hours of their footballing lives. How different and happier were times for the blue side of Merseyside.

Right at the end Arsenal did have one of their more embarrassing moments when Niiasse nipped in to poke home what amounted to nothing more than just a second goal for Everton after Arsenal keeper Petr Cech decided to have a rush of blood to his head. It was hard to know what Cech was both thinking about and doing but it was by some distance one of the game's funniest moments.

Arsenal though were far from finished and it almost felt that the convincing margin of their victory had not been sufficient. The now fit and influential Jack Wilshere had now come on for the game's flickering embers. It was a Wilshere and Sanchez collaboration which now carved open a non existent Everton defence. Now Sanchez gave us another tantalising glimpse of his genius as the Chilean glided across a static Everton defence and drove the ball handsomely wide of a now inconsolable Everton keeper Jordan Pickford. A fifth goal for Arsenal was now no more than they deserved because this was the Arsenal at their very best.

In much the way that West Ham's supporters had shown how they felt against Brighton on Friday, the supporters streamed for the exits looking like men who could hardly wait to down their first pint. We have now discovered that Everton's legendary neighbours Liverpool had also been demolished by Arsenal's neighbours Spurs at Wembley. There is something geographically intriguing about football that is simply without equal.  North London 2 Merseyside 0. The script writers would have been lost for words.