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Wenger excited by essential partnerships

Cape Town - Arsene Wenger praised record-signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang following his debut goal in Arsenal's 5-1 mauling of Everton on Saturday.

The Gabon international cooly dinked the ball over Toffees goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for the Gunners' fourth of the afternoon, following a brace from Aaron Ramsey and one from Laurent Koscielny.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin came off the bench for Theo Walcott on the hour mark and immediately pulled a goal back, but Ramsey killed off any hopes of a comeback to complete his hat-trick on 74 minutes.

When asked by the Arsenal website after the game, what he saw from his new striker, Wenger said: "The quality of his movement, I must say.

"When you analyse well where he goes and when he goes, it’s always what you want from a striker, and even then, I believe he is not completely 100 per cent fit physically. But the quality of his movement and the quality of his finishing was very good.”

Wenger was also very excited by the burgeoning relationship between Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang, that he feels could be key for his side. Mkhitaryan set up three of the goals, while Aubameyang's pass for the first goal out wide for Mkhitaryan to slide in Ramsey was critical in getting Arsenal underway at the Emirates.

“They are essential. Because football is one who gives the ball to one who finishes. If you have only one of the two, then you never score. So, to create these types of partnerships is essential."

Ramsey, who was again excellent for Arsenal, and scored three well-taken goals, also received Wenger's praise.

 “The assists from Mkhitaryan were great today and Ramsey having a hat-trick is absolutely exceptional and good for him, for his confidence. He looked more composed and calmer in his finishing and that’s great," the manager added.

“It was the game like we want to play it. Fluent, pacy, technical quality, agile movement, very mobile and good finishing. Overall, I believe we all enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it didn’t last for 90 minutes but I think it is still a convincing, terrific performance.”

Aubameyang would maybe have liked to have added a second goal after the break, but was nonetheless happy with the outcome of his first game.

“Of course, I was really happy,” he said. "We won the game in the first half and the second was a bit different. We are all happy today."

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