Arsenal: Arsene Wenger is a very hard man to please

Arsene Wenger has stated that Arsenal’s attack still has room to improve after the five-goal dismantling of Everton. He is a very hard man to impress indeed.

Arsenal put in the best performance of the season on Sunday. Although Everton are a side struggling for confidence and quality in their play — they sacked Ronald Koeman on Monday in the aftermath of the 5-2 defeat –, the Gunners were ruthless in the final third, carving open their hosts time and time again.

Related Story: Arsenal Vs Norwich: Predicted starting XI

In fact, by half-time, they had engineered 17 attempts on goal. That is more than any team has ever created in one half of football in Premier League history. By the end of the game, they had had 30 attempts on goal, 14 of them on target. To put that into perspective, Arsenal had more shots on target on Sunday than Manchester City have allowed all year.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 observations from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park

Despite these impressive statistics, though, Arsene Wenger, in his post-match comments, stated that, while he was happy with the fluidity and the potency of the display, there was room for improvement:

"“There are still things to improve, but we created a lot of chances through our team movement, and if you add [Aaron] Ramsey with his penetrating runs, we caused Everton a lot of problems. After that, it’s easier for everyone to express themselves. I’m satisfied with the way we played. Our movement was good, and the quality of our passing was good.”"

Now, I am not here to say that there were not areas where improvements could not have been made. Certainly, there was a wasteful element to the finishing throughout, which was a large reason as to why Everton actually took the lead. When Wayne Rooney whipped his distanced shot past Petr Cech, Arsenal should have been out of sight.

But the dynamism of the front three, in particular, their movement off the ball and then the ability to exploit the space that was created as a result of this movement, was extremely pleasing. This was the first time that Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette had started together all year. I guess that is what happens when you play your three world-class attackers alongside one another.

And it was the attacking troika that drove the attacking threat that Arsenal carried on Sunday. Ozil had a goal and an assist — he would have had more assists if not for some misfiring in front of goal; Alexis Sanchez also had a goal and an assist, and Alexandre Lacazette finished his goal with acute accuracy. In fact, Ozil’s goal was assisted by Sanchez and Lacazette’s goal was assisted by Ozil. This was a trio playing off one another to great effect.

Next: Arsenal Vs Everton: 5 things we learned

And yet, Wenger still believes that there is room to improve. Perhaps he is right. Perhaps this attack can become even more potent. But it is difficult to be upset Sunday’s blistering display. Wenger is a very hard man to please indeed.