Arsenal moved back to the top of the Premier League with a dominant 3-0 win at Brentford, while Everton beat West Ham 1-0 for their first victory of the season on Sunday.
Injuries to captain Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko had stretched Arsenal’s squad to the extent that 15-year-old Ethan Nwaneri came off the bench late to become the youngest player in Premier League history.
However, the Gunners showed no sign of weakness at a ground where they were beaten 2-0 last season to move back one point above Manchester City and Tottenham at the top of the table.
It took just 17 minutes for Mikel Arteta’s men to make the breakthrough when Saliba flicked Bukayo Saka’s corner in off the far post.
Jesus also used his head to score his fourth goal in seven Premier League games since joining from Manchester City as he powered home an enticing delivery from Xhaka.
The absence of Odegaard also made room for Vieira and the Portuguese midfielder made his mark with a sumptuous strike from outside the box to kill off any doubt over the outcome four minutes into the second half.
An easy day for Arsenal was rounded off a minute from time when Arteta was able to hand Nwaneri his debut as just 15 years and 181 days, breaking Harvey Elliott’s record as the youngest player in Premier League history when he appeared for Fulham as a 16-year-old.
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At the other end of the table, West Ham will spend the upcoming international break in the bottom three after Neal Maupay’s first Everton goal gave the Toffees a much-needed win.
Frank Lampard’s men are now unbeaten in five league games but had just four points on the board before kick-off from four consecutive draws.
An injury to Dominic Calvert-Lewin forced Everton to seek more firepower in the final weeks of the transfer window and Maupay delivered on just his second appearance since a move from Brighton.
The Frenchman spun onto Alex Iwobi’s pass and fired in from the edge of the area to lift Everton up to 13th on the table.
West Ham slip to 18th with just one win from their opening seven league games.
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