Arsenal climbed into the Champions League places with an entertaining victory over lowly Watford in a game with five quality goals.

Martin Odegaard put Arsenal ahead not long afterwards after flicking the ball into the path of Bukayo Saka and then running into the centre to slot in Saka’s cross.

Watford levelled with the best individual goal of the game, Cucho Hernandez’s acrobatic flying volley from Kiko Femenia’s cross.

The visitors restored their lead when Saka won the ball off Tom Cleverley and found Alexandre Lacazette, who rolled the ball back into Saka’s path to fire into the top corner.

England star Saka was involved again in the third goal as his quick throw-in set up a move with Lacazette laying the ball off to Gabriel Martinelli to finish.

They looked as if they were cruising, and Eddie Nketiah hit the post, before Moussa Sissoko controlled the ball on his chest and beat Ben White before slotting in.

That set up a tense finale with Watford debutant Samuel Kalu forcing Aaron Ramsdale into a save with a long-range shot.

Arsenal move above Manchester United into fourth spot for a couple of hours at least, with United facing Manchester City in the derby.

Watford, who blow hot and cold too often, remain three points off safety.

Arteta plays his part in Gunners’ win

The Gunners continued their surge up the table with an entertaining albeit ultimately tense win, keeping them unbeaten in the league since New Year’s Day.

They played some really top-quality, slick football, even though they only had four efforts on target and were hanging on in the end after Sissoko struck.

It could have been so different though had Dennis timed his run better before slotting in Joao Pedro’s pass just seconds into the game.

But Saka was excellent again and involved in all three goals. He has scored or assisted 13 Premier League goals this season, with only Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz (17) involved in more in Europe’s top five leagues among players under the age of 21.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta had a big hand in the third goal, too, grabbing the ball after it went out of play and quickly passing it to Saka, who took the throw-in that led to the goal.

Watford played their part in an engaging contest – Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale was the much busier goalkeeper – but have won just once under Roy Hodgson.

They become the fourth team to lose eight successive Premier League home matches, after Sunderland, Wolves and Norwich.

Player of the match

SakaBukayo Saka

with an average of 8.61

Watford

1. Squad number1Player nameFoster

   Average rating

   5.87

2. Squad number19Player nameSissoko

   Average rating

   5.57

3. Squad number29Player nameCucho Hernández

   Average rating

   5.56

4. Squad number25Player nameDennis

   Average rating

   5.34

5. Squad number21Player nameKiko Femenía

   Average rating

   5.25

6. Squad number14Player nameKamara

   Average rating

   5.21

7. Squad number10Player nameJoão Pedro

   Average rating

   5.12

8. Squad number28Player nameKalu

   Average rating

   5.08

9. Squad number22Player nameSamir

   Average rating

   4.92

10. Squad number15Player nameCathcart

    Average rating

    4.89

11. Squad number6Player nameLouza

    Average rating

    4.83

12. Squad number39Player nameKayembe

    Average rating

    4.80

13. Squad number8Player nameCleverley

    Average rating

    4.71

Arsenal

1. Squad number7Player nameSaka

   Average rating

   8.61

2. Squad number8Player nameØdegaard

   Average rating

   8.60

3. Squad number35Player nameGabriel Martinelli

   Average rating

   7.87

4. Squad number9Player nameLacazette

   Average rating

   7.72

5. Squad number3Player nameTierney

   Average rating

   7.53

6. Squad number5Player namePartey

   Average rating

   7.32

7. Squad number6Player nameGabriel Magalhães

   Average rating

   7.00

8. Squad number4Player nameWhite

   Average rating

   7.00

9. Squad number32Player nameRamsdale

   Average rating

   6.95

10. Squad number34Player nameXhaka

    Average rating

    6.73

11. Squad number17Player nameCédric Soares

    Average rating

    6.71

12. Squad number19Player namePépé

    Average rating

    6.38

13. Squad number30Player nameNketiah

    Average rating

    6.37

14. Squad number16Player nameHolding

    Average rating

    6.37

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Sourced From BBC