Arsenal moved a significant step closer to ending their 22-year wait for a league title after dismantling Fulham 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening, extending their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points over Manchester City.

It was a night when the Gunners looked every bit like champions-in-waiting. A scintillating first-half display had the home crowd buzzing from the opening minutes, and by the time the referee blew for the interval, the game was as good as over. Mikel Arteta’s side produced one of their most fluent attacking performances of the season, and perhaps most encouragingly, they did so just days after a gruelling 1-1 first-leg draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.

The headline act was Viktor Gyokeres, who helped himself to a brace and was at the heart of everything Arsenal created. The Swedish striker broke the deadlock in the ninth minute, taking advantage of a brilliant run and low cross from Bukayo Saka to tap home at the far post. It was a simple finish, but the move that created it was anything but. Saka, making his first league start since March after recovering from an Achilles injury, looked sharp and refreshed, and his return to the fold gave the Gunners an entirely different dimension going forward.

Gyokeres and Saka then swapped roles for the second goal on the stroke of 40 minutes, with the Swede holding the ball up intelligently before threading it into Saka’s path. The winger did the rest, curling a clinical low finish beyond Bernd Leno at the near post to double the lead. Then, in first-half stoppage time, Gyokeres rose highest to meet Leandro Trossard’s cross and powered a header into the corner to make it three his 21st goal in all competitions this season, and arguably the goal that killed the contest stone dead.

The second half was a more measured affair, with Arteta sensibly withdrawing Saka at the break to protect him ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Champions League return leg. Leno denied Gyokeres a hat-trick with a sharp one-on-one save, and Riccardo Calafiori struck the bar with a header, but Arsenal were comfortable throughout. Fulham, who arrived in north London carrying a virus in their camp, mustered little in response and failed to register a single shot on target across the ninety minutes.

The result leaves Arsenal on 76 points with three games remaining, and while City retain two games in hand, the pressure is now firmly on Pep Guardiola’s men. Arsenal’s goal difference currently stands at +41 compared to City’s +37 a margin that could prove decisive if the title race goes down to the wire. For now, though, the Emirates faithful have every reason to believe.