Bukayo Saka bends the day to his will and Arsenal can now wonder

A s Bukayo Saka sheep-crooked the ball away from Vitalii Mykolenko with his left foot, then pushed it on with his right, finding a clear, crisp square of green inside the Everton penalty area, Jordan Pickford crouched low in front of him, hands funnelled between his knees, sensing the danger close to the ground, the obvious target by his feet.

Saka took one quick step and changed the subject, going high instead, pinging the ball with a thrillingly pure contact towards the smallest available space, near post, top corner, and bullseye-ing the square of netting beyond Pickford’s belatedly raised left hand.

It is a slightly wonky cliché that goalies should never be beaten there. The goal is big. There are many gambles and hedges and guesses in the moment. This was simply precision from Saka, the sense of a footballer who is able to bend the day to his will right now.

Saka has six goals and three assists in 10 league games since the World Cup. He has made the difference against Spurs, Manchester City and Manchester United – and now here when there was, despite the eventual 4-0 scoreline, just a tiny note of fear creeping in.

This was a significant hurdle for Arsenal. Not because it was Everton, a mediocre team now heading into new and previously unexplored versions of their own mediocrity: here we had Dyche-issue mediocrity, organised mediocrity, mediocrity that kept running right to the end.

For Arsenal the importance of this win was related to logistics. The basic symmetry of moving level with Manchester City on 25 games played. The re-establishment of their five-point lead. And now a run of three straight wins after the recent stumble, clear air between there and here.

And it is probably time now. Time to look down, and