Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scored first Premier League hat-trick to help Arsenal secure a 4-2 win and leapfrog Leeds United in the table.
Arsenal came into the game looking to turn around their form, after two disappointing results against Wolves and Aston Villa, whereas Leeds were full of confidence following their 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.
The hosts started on the front foot as Martin Odegaard found space on the edge of the area, laying the ball back to Emile Smith Rowe whose first-time effort sailed over the bar.
Leeds responded quickly, catching Arsenal on the counter, with Patrick Bamford seeing his near-post header comfortably saved by Bernd Leno.
Shortly after, in the 13th minute, Aubameyang made the breakthrough to put Arsenal in the driving seat.
The 31-year-old was picked out by Granit Xhaka after drifting out to the left-wing and showed signs of his former self by cutting in on his right foot to finish past Illan Meslier at his near post.
As the Gunners looked to kill the game off with a quick second goal, they thought they had done so when Bukayo Saka broke through, appearing to be brought down for a penalty.
However, referee Stuart Atwell was advised to take a second look at the monitor by VAR, eventually coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t significant contact in order to give the spot-kick.
Saka didn’t let the decision dishearten him as just moments later the talented youngster won another penalty, when he nicked the ball from Meslier in the area causing the keeper to bring him down.
Aubameyang stepped up and made no mistake, dispatching his penalty into the left-hand side of the goal to notch his second of the afternoon.
In the 45th minute Mikel Arteta’s side capped off a rampant first-half display when Dani Ceballos slipped Hector Bellerin in behind the Leeds defence – allowing the right back to fire it into the back of the net from six-yards out.
Going into half-time Arsenal were in a commanding 3-0 lead, leaving the away side with it all to do in the second 45 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for Leeds, as they found themselves four goals down within two minutes of the restart.
Smith Rowe’s driving run into the box afforded him the space to get his shot away and was slightly fortunate when his sliced effort fell on to the head of Aubameyang to complete his hat-trick.
With the game out of sight, Arsenal began to take their foot off the pedal, and paid the price for doing so.
Raphinha’s whipped corner was met by the onrushing Pascal Struijk, whose powerful header made it 4-1, to give Leeds a consolation.
Approaching the final 20 minutes the visitors were in the ascendancy, getting in behind Arsenal’s defence with Raphinha squaring it into the path of Helder Costa to pull another goal back.
However, it was too little too late for Marcelo Bielsa’s men as Aubameyang almost put the game out of sight – when his first-time effort from the edge of the box cannoned back off the crossbar.
In the end, the scoreline remained the same ending 4-2 to take the Gunners two points clear of Leeds in 10th having played one game more.
