Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil marked his first Premier League start of 2019 with a goal and an assist as his side hammered Bournemouth 5-1 in their Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
The German attacking midfielder had not started a game for Arsenal since their 1-1 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion on December 26 due to a knee problem, but showed no ring rust as he rattled home the first goal in the fourth minute.
He then turned provider for the home side in the 27th minute, drawing out Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc before playing a simple pass to allow Henrikh Mkhitaryan to fire into an empty net.
Midfielder Matteo Guendouzi threw Bournemouth a lifeline shortly afterwards as he lost the ball on the edge of his own box to Dan Gosling, who squared it to Lys Mousset for a simple finish to make it 2-1.
However, the revival was short-lived as Laurent Koscielny put Arsenal 3-1 up just after the break and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it four just before the hour mark, finishing a counter-attack by rounding Boruc and slotting the ball home.
Substitute Alexandre Lacazette completed the rout by scoring from a free kick 12 minutes from the end to hand Bournemouth their fourth defeat in their last five league games.
SOUTHAMPTON 2 FULHAM 0
Southampton moved out of the relegation zone with a crucial 2-0 home win against struggling Fulham on Wednesday, their first victory in five Premier League games.
Oriol Romeu gave Southampton the lead in the 23rd minute, beating Fulham keeper Sergio Rico with a shot through a crowd.
Fulham enjoyed lots of possession but their weaknesses at both ends of the pitch were all too apparent as Southampton doubled their advantage before the break.
Aleksandar Mitrovic had just scuffed a good chance wide for Fulham when Southampton attacked down the left and Nathan Redmond’s low cross was parried by Rico to James Ward-Prowse who swept in the rebound.
Despite some neat build-up play Fulham lacked any cutting edge as Southampton comfortably held out for the victory that moved them two points above Cardiff City into 17th place.
Second-from-bottom Fulham are now 10 points behind Southampton and looking odds-on for an instant return to the Championship.