Arsenal’s u23s breezed past Everton 4-0 to cut the gap at the top of the table to just one point on Monday.

Eddie Nketiah scored a hat-trick on the night, with Reiss Nelson adding a fourth.

Liverpool surprisingly dropped points in a loss to relegation battlers Spurs on Monday. As a result, the Gunners had an opportunity to gain on the league leaders, even if they didn’t know it.

It didn’t take long for the team to get into the lead. With less than 15 minutes on the clock, Eddie Nketiah deflected a Joe Willock shot into the net. In all honesty, the striker probably didn’t know much about it, but he did get the last touch.

If the first goal had an element of luck about it, the second certainly didn’t. Joe Willock played a nice through ball to Reiss Nelson, who impressively pulled off a composed ball roll around the keeper, then tapped into the empty net. It was another show of confidence and skill from the 18-year-old.

In a very physical game, Rob Holding and January signing Konstantinos Mavropanos had to be at their best to keep a clean sheet until half-time. Then, mid-way through the second half, Nketiah put the game to bed.

Willock was the provider for the third time of the night, playing a perfectly weighted ball into the striker. Nketiah took one touch to open up his body, then one to fire into the bottom corner for 3-0.

Emile Smith Rowe then linked up with Nketiah well on the edge of the area, spinning in behind the Toffees’ defence. The young winger cut the ball back for Arsenal’s centre-forward to complete his hat-trick.

That was it for the scoring, and the Gunners went in 4-0 winners. In truth, they were never really under much threat, taking 19 shots to Everton’s five.

Here are the goals from the match:

Next up, the u23s play Leicester City away on Monday, February 19.