Woods teases Durham about claims Arsenal have been ‘lucky’ this season after Everton win

Laura Woods couldn’t resist poking fun at her talkSPORT colleague, Adrian Durham, who suggested Arsenal have been blessed by luck this season.

The Gunners continued their title charge as they went five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 thumping of Everton thanks to a brace from Gabriel Martinelli as well as strikes from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.

Mikel Arteta’s side have impressed for much of the campaign, but Durham believes they have had far too much luck along the way.

Ahead of the victory on Wednesday night, he said: “Well Arsenal are good, no question about that.

“But the definition of lucky is something that goes in your favour that you don’t control. It’s a wonderful thing, we all love a bit of luck now and then, Arsenal are having a huge amount of it just lately.”

Durham added: “There was no Casemiro when they faced United, [Moises] Caicedo and [Alexis] Mac Allister didn’t play when the Gunners went to Brighton, [Luis] Diaz was injured for Liverpool in the first half at the Emirates.

“No [Dejan] Kulusevski for the north London derby at home, no [James] Maddison when they went to Leicester at the weekend. In injury time at Aston Villa, an Arsenal shot hits the bar and goes in off the goalkeeper whereas a Villa shot hits the bar, goes away to safety.

“No Rodrigo [Bentancur] when they went to Spurs, [Joao] Palhinha will be suspended for Fulham when they meet a week on Sunday and tonight, it’s just that little bit too soon for [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin to return.

“Little things make big points and they’re falling right into Arsenal’s lap. The joke is over now, no team deserves this much luck, it’s ridiculous.”

Their trouncing of the Toffees couldn’t be put down to luck and Woodsy couldn’t resist having a dig at Durham afterwards.

She tweeted: “Let’s be honest…you can make a case like this for or against any team in any league in the history of football if you really have a lot of time on your hands and a secret Arsenal fetish.”

talkSPORT pundit Dean Ashton was purring at the performance of Mikel Arteta’s men.

“It’s champagne football now for Arsenal,” he said after their fourth goal of the night.

“Eddie Nketiah is a big part of this move. He initially gets it, plays it out wide and drifts in like a thief in the night in behind [Michael] Keane who just doesn’t see him.

“Great ball down the side for him as well, he flashes it across and there is Martinelli. Really bright, across the front, we don’t see it enough these days. Nips in, through the goalkeeper’s legs. What a move from Arsenal.”