Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid: Hungry Gunners outsmart Diego Simeone's dark arts as Viktor Gyokeres finally breaks scoring drought

Atletico Madrid tried to start a phoney war by moaning about cold showers at the Emirates on Monday night but could only wilt in the heat of Arsenal’s heavy artillery when the real stuff started here in north London.

Diego Simeone’s team were trying it on with all that complaining the night before the game. Arsenal suspect they hadn’t even intended to use the facilities at the Emirates. But if it was a battle of wits they were looking for, they got one and came out on the wrong side of it. Then, when it came to the football, they found themselves embarrassed there, too.

On the sideline wearing a black suit and a deep frown, Simeone presented as a coach who had come here to use one trick too many and found himself outsmarted, out thought and out played.  

Arsenal were too good here for the Spaniards. Too smart, too clinical and hungry. Atletico went home on the back of a hiding and did so knowing that it could have been worse.

Scoreless at the break, Arsenal ran away with it in the second half. Two set piece goals from Gabriel and Vicktor Gyokeres were from the classic Arsenal play book. In between those Gabriel Martinelli had curled in a beauty and Gyokeres had bundled in his first.

Four goals in thirteen minutes and that was the end of it. In terms of what will have pleased Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta the most then it would have been the clean sheet - a ninth in twelve games now this season - and maybe two goals for his centre forward who has not looked totally aligned with his team-mates' football for much of the season so far.

Neither of Gyokeres' goals were particularly pretty. Indeed he looked a little embarrassed by the first. Team-mate Gabriel at one stage seemed to be encouraging him to celebrate. But they were the Swedish striker's first goals since early September and took his overall tally to five. In terms of confidence and finding a way forward, those are the important bits.   

Arsenal – hesitant during the season’s early games – are running hot now. They are the form team in England and nobody in Europe will want to play them either.

Here they were quick and sharp early on and looked exactly like the team high on confidence that they are at the moment. 

It’s only a month since they were a minute or two away from a Premier League defeat to Manchester City here. Martinelli got them a point at the death on that day and since then they have won six games on the spin and conceded only a single goal.

The confidence engendered by that little run brought some fluency to their early play and for a while they were a little too slick for Atletico to deal with.

Eberechi Eze was particularly dangerous in the number ten position behind centre forward Gyokeres while the right flank combination of Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber provided a constant outlet for the English league leaders.

Atletico – losers at Liverpool on game day one – were not short of attitude. Nor, on the sidelines, was their coach Simeone. The Argentine may not even be the ‘most famous Diego in your own country’ – as someone in the crowd told him – but as a manager he has proved his worth during his fourteen years in Madrid.

Arsenal probably should have been ahead in the first half an hour. Eze jinked past his man in the fifth minute and struck a shot that looped up off the heel of David Hancko and dropped on to the crossbar. Declan Rice moved on to the loose ball but could only volley down in to the ground and up and over.

Soon after that Myles Lewis-Skelly drove low across goal and wide before Saka ran through but could not beat goalkeeper Jan Oblak with his poked shot.

Atletico were struggling to make an impression at the other end but were handed an opportunity by Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya. Having dashed out to the far touchline to try and shepherd a loose ball out of play, Raya found himself drawn in to a lunging tackle. Then, when the ball was thrown quickly to Julian Alvarez, the former City player shot first time towards the far post and was wide only by about a foot.

Raya looked a little embarrassed after all that and with good reason. At the other end, meanwhile, Arsenal did have the ball in the net as Martinelli eased in Saka’s cross shot at the far post only to be called offside by a slight but quite apparent margin.

Arsenal had dropped their levels a little in the final fifteen minutes of the opening half and as a result the game had become a little more even. Indeed it was Atletico who came closest to scoring in the early moments of the second half when Alvarez curled a superb effort towards the top far corner from the left edge of the penalty area only for the ball to strike the bar.

It transpired to be huge moment as very soon Arsenal were ahead and very soon after the game was effectively over.

The impressive Martin Zubimendi created a chance from open play for Gyokeres only for Oblak to advance and save. But when Rice delivered a free-kick from the left in the 57th minute, Gabriel brushed off the attention of Nicolas Gonzalez to head in.

A trademark modern Arsenal goal, it lifted the stadium but also prompted a brief response from the Spanish team. Within a minute Giuliano Simeone ran down the right to shoot and the end of Gabriel’s left boot deflected the ball over. It said much for the modern Arsenal ethos that the Brazilian celebrated that effort with as much enthusiasm as he had his goal. 

There was an energy about the game by now and the last half an hour promised much and delivered three more Arsenal goals that ultimately embarrassed Atletico.

Lewis-Skelly eased through the middle in the 64th minute to feed Martinelli on the left and the Brazilian’s right instep finish across Oblak and in to the far corner was sublime. 

Then it was Martinelli’s turn to provide a chance and when his cross from the left fell to the feet of Gyokeres, the ball squirmed in to the corner as a defender tried to challenge.

The big summer signing looked a little bashful about that one but he needn’t have been. He had worked hard. Three minutes later, meanwhile, Gabriel headed a deep Rice corner back across goal and Gyokeres bundled in his second.