Arsenal produced a late flurry of goals to condemn Huddersfield to a heavy 5-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Alexandre Lacazette made an early breakthrough for Arsene Wenger’s side, who had to wait until midway through the second half to make sure of the three points with a brace from Olivier Giroud and further goals from Alexis Sanches and Mesut Ozil.
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The Gunners quickly settled and opened their account through Lacazette, who was played in by Aaron Ramsey’s deft flick and finished past Jonas Lossl’s near post.
After the early blow, the visitors struggled to respond despite the encouragement they received from their travelling supporters. Ramsey had a chance to double the hosts’ lead in the 10th minute but could only volley over the bar.
The Terriers had a chance to get themselves back into the match in the 21st minute after Lossl played a long ball forward which skimmed over the head of Shkodran Mustafi, leaving Steve Mounie bearing down on Petr Cech, but the goalkeeper did well to rush out and clear the danger.
Moments later they fashioned a half-chance as Chris Lowe whipped in a free-kick, finding the head of Mathias Jorgensen, but the defender could not direct his header on target.
In the 33rd minute Arsenal came close to adding to their lead after some patient build-up play led to Lacazette being put through on goal. The French striker chipped the ball over Lossl’s head from an acute angle, only to see Martin Cranie get back and clear the ball off the line.
David Wagner’s men attempted to hit the hosts on the counter and fashioned a great chance in the 40th minute when Mounie appeared to be through on goal only for him to take the ball too wide and see his shot blocked by Laurent Koscielny.
Arsenal started the second half off by surprisingly substituting Lacazette for compatriot Giroud.
In the 51st minute Colin Quaner was freed for the visitors, bearing down on Cech, who stuck a leg out to deny the Huddersfield man.
Giroud had a great chance to double the lead in the 59th minute after Ramsey managed to slide him in but he could only hit the post and send his rebound wide. However he made up for the miss when he was brilliantly played in by Ozil and finished well past Lossl.
Only a minute later did things got worse for the visitors as Ozil again did well, this time finding Sanchez, who slammed his effort home.
Ozil then turned scorer as he produced a deft flick past Lossl in the 72nd minute to pile more misery onto the Terriers.
Giroud grabbed his double in the 87th minute, smashing the ball home from close range to round off the scoring.
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