ARSENAL 2-0 EVERTON: Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhaes weer both on target in Arsenal's Premier League win over Everton, their first match without Bukayo Saka following his injury
Ezri Konsa scores
Arsenal beat Everton 2-0, scoring their first set-piece goal of the season
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No Bukayo Saka? No problem for Arsenal. Well, not just yet, anyway. The initial intel from the Emirates is that Mikel Arteta's Premier League champions will be without their most-prized winger for a minimum of six weeks following the quad injury he sustained on Wednesday at Bayern Munich.
During that timeframe, their upcoming fixtures include Liverpool (A), Borussia Dortmund (H), Manchester City (H), Tottenham (A), Real Madrid (H) and Manchester (H), among others.
By hook or by crook, they are going to have to find a way of turning the screw and if this was a sign of things to come from the team recently dubbed 'The Unwatchables' following their turgid 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest - life in Saka's absence is going to be far from boring.
There was an unpredictability to their play, they threatened down both flanks and remarkably, their two imperious central defenders displayed killer instincts inside the penalty box to help chalk up another important victory. Prior to Saturday's meeting, Arsenal's Premier League stats with and without Saka were rather damning.
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They averaged fewer goals per 90 (2.0 with, 1.6 without), fewer shots per 90 (15.1 with, 13.7 without), had less possession per 90 (56.7 with, 55 without) and boasted a better win ratio (64.2 with, 53.3 without). As defending champions, now is definitely not the time for excuses.
With games coming thick and fast - Arsenal could play as many as 15 times by the end of the year - Arteta needs to find solutions and here, that is precisely what he did. Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke played with confidence and a freeness of the mind.
They did not have to sweat on their inclusion in the starting XI with Christos Tzolis also missing due to injury. The Greek could return in some capacity as early as next week and with 16-year-old Max Dowman gem also probing for opportunities, Arsenal are not short of options.
Both Eze and Madueke are beginning to purr. It is not so much about finding a replacement for Saka because he is irreplaceable in these parts. It is more about stylistic adjustments and squeezing more out of other individuals.
Outside of Saka's penalty in the 2-0 win at Sunderland, Arsenal had not even scored a top-flight goal from a set-piece this season. Much to the delight of rivals, that is something that has been missing from their repertoire this term.
On their way to title glory, Arsenal broke the record for most goals scored from dead-balls in a single Premier League campaign with 19. That figure accounted for over a quarter of their league goals across the entire 38 matches. Now things are genuinely different.
Arsenal scored from a set-piece
Arsenal unlock their set-piece threat again
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Like it or not, before this weekend's action, Arsenal were averaging the most passes per goalscoring sequence of any team in Europe's top-five domestic leagues and UEFA competition. The Gunners had made a whopping 7.3 passes per goal, bettering Manchester City's average of 6.6.
While it's an unpopular narrative, there has been free-flowing football on show in north London and that is why Ezri Konsa's scrappy seventh-minute opener at the back post from a dead-ball felt all the more sweet.
The goal was a throwback to those gritty and ugly performances that helped Arsenal end 22 years of hurt. At this stage of last season, they already had six goals from corners, which is why it is so hard to believe this was legitimately their first.
In their seven other top-flight matches, the Gunners had only averaged five corners per 90 in the Premier League this term. Here, their daring wing play saw them win 12.
Arsenal are far from one-dimensional without Saka. They can score in different ways and if they maintain their defensive solidity, they will continue to get results as they rattle through the games. Gaining ground on leaders Manchester City was an added bonus, also.