ARSENAL MAINTAINED THEIR excellent home form with a thumping 5-1 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League tonight. 

The returning Mesut Ozil opened the scoring after only four minutes, and he then set up the second for Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the 27-minute mark. Bournemouth pulled a goal pack through Lys Mousset three minutes later, but couldn’t claw level before Arsenal ran riot in the second half. 

Laurent Koscielny scored within two minutes of the second half, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang adding a fourth a minute before the hour mark. 

Substitute Alex Lacazette rounded off the scoring with a fifth 12 minutes from time. 

Arsenal remain fourth, now just four points from Spurs in third, while Bournemouth’s slide continues: a ninth-straight away defeat leaves them nine points above the relegation zone. 

That drop zone no longer includes Southampton, who vaulted away from danger with a 2-0 win at home to Fulham. Both goals came in the first-half: the first through Oriel Romeu; the second from James Ward-Prowse. 

Shane Long was a 64th-minute substitute for Saints, who are now one place and two points above Cardiff City. 

Fulham, meanwhile, are looking doomed: 10 points from safety with as many games remaining.