Premier League

SHEFFIELD UNITED 0
ARSENAL 6 (Odegaard 5, Bogle 13 og, Martinelli 15, Havertz 25, Rice 39, White 58)

MIKEL Arteta has warned his free-scoring Arsenal side that they cannot afford to drop any points between now and the end of the season if they are to pip Liverpool and Manchester City to the Premier League title.

The Gunners gobbled up the goals yet again tonight (Monday) as they thrashed Sheffield United 6-0 at Bramall Lane to record their seventh successive league win on the spin.

The north Londoners shared the goals around, with Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Ben White all finding the back of the net – while Arteta’s side even let the Blades score, albeit in way of an own-goal from Jayden Bogle, who added to a miserable night for the home side by prodding the ball past his own goalkeeper.

Arsenal have now scored 31 league goals in 2024, while only conceding three. Arteta, however, isn’t getting carried away. “The fact that we’re scoring many goals and not conceding is a great sign, but it’s about winning every game now,” the Spaniard said. “That’s the demands these two teams [City and Liverpool] have set over the past few years and that’s the task ahead of us.”

Arsenal’s intentions against Sheffield United were clear from the off, with Bukayo Saka thumping a shot off the woodwork, before Martinelli’s goal-bound follow-up was deflected to safety. The way the Gunners are playing this year, though, there never seems to be a fear that “it might be one of those days”. Far from it.

The goals were always coming; the first seeing Odegaard tap into an empty net after good link-up play between Jorginho and Rice. In the blink of an eye it was 3-0 and a noticeable number of home fans were heading for the exits with barely 15 minutes played after a direct burst down the wing from Saka ended with Bogle scoring an own-goal, before Martinelli’s deflected effort confirmed the game was over.

From then on it was just a question of how many Arsenal would score. The answer this time was six, with Havertz and Rice making it 5-0 at the break. The visitors surprisingly only scored once in the second period, although it was arguably the pick of the goals as White collected the ball off Havertz in the box and rifled home with his left foot.

“A great night – it’s a really difficult place to come but the way we started the game obviously made the difference,” purred Arteta after the final whistle. “We were really aggressive, really positive and we showed real quality, especially in the final third to take the game into a position where it was in a big favour for us and then we maintained it. We maintained the rhythm, the hunger and I love that about the team.

“This is the Premier League, you know the level of the opponent, and you cannot be satisfied. When it comes internally from them [the players], that level of demands is what I see every day in training – they’re pushing each other and trying to make each other better and that chemistry is really important to have the chance to achieve what we want.”

There were some concerns for Arsenal, with Saka going off at half-time, while Martinelli limped off shortly after the hour mark. Both look like they will be fine to face Brentford at the Emirates this Saturday, with Arteta revealing that Saka was just “feeling sick”, while Martinelli picked up a “cut” to his foot but avoided any serious injury.

Sheffield United: Grbic, Ahmedhodzic (Arblaster, 64), Trusty, Robinson, Bogle, Norwood (Osborn, 17), Vinicius Souza, Hamer, Davies (Brooks, 45), McAtee (Baldock, 45), McBurnie (Osula, 45)
Substitutes not used: Brereton, Foderingham, Larouci, Peck

Arsenal: Raya; White (Cedric Soares, 65), Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice (Trossard, 74), Jorginho (Partey, 65), Odegaard; Saka (Vieira, 45), Havertz, Martinelli (Jesus, 64)
Substitutes not used: Ramsdale, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah