Aaron Ramsey hits a hat-trick and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off the mark as Arsenal thrash Everton

After all the transfer smoke, some transformative Arsenal fire. Because, for all the mirrors and speculation of the window, one of the reasons supporters are so excited by the prospect of signings is that sense of newness that fires the imagination and allows them to dream of new possibilities for their team.

This 5-1 win over a pathetic Everton was one of those days for Arsenal that explained why. There was high-level football and a hat-trick for Aaron Ramsey to go with the hope that followed the transfer hype.

It took a mere six minutes for the three men that actually put pen to paper for Arsenal this week to link up for a goal, just 20 for the team to settle this game, and just 37 for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to get a debut goal set up by first-time starter and three-time assister Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Mesut Ozil is not a new signing but his new contract may well be the most significant development of the window for Arsenal, and it was his touch that started the move for the first goal and got everything moving on the day. It also got everyone else moving beyond the two new signings, as Ramsey was free-scoring again, Alex Iwobi was offering sparkling touches and Shkodran Mustafi providing robust challenges.

The significant point to be remembered if talking about imagination and reality at the Emirates, though, is that no matter what happens around the team the Arsenal reality remains so dual-sided. There can’t be too many clubs in Europe who go from such lows to highs and back so regularly.

This last week proved it given the defeat to Swansea City, as did this response of a performance. This was after all still just an echo and continuation of their last league home, despite everything that has happened in between.

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Just as against Crystal Palace two weeks ago, Arsenal found themselves farcically far ahead early on against supine opposition. That should remind everyone not to get too excited by this win. This kind of thing has been a trait of this Arsenal as long as memory serves. They are still in sixth.

There is also the other side to the reality of this match. Everton were utterly dreadful. Their form under Sam Allardyce has drastically declined, and here it led to total collapse.

As good as that opening strike involving Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and then goalscorer Ramsey was, Arsenal had so much space to work in. A pattern was set, in a way that is unusual for Allardyce’s ideals but allowed Wenger’s team to play his idealised patterns of attack.

Arsenal just continued to course through Everton.

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Allowing space around the box is one thing for an Allardyce side but from a set-piece? These were the back-to-basic first principles that the manager was supposed to restore but the collapse of that as well only led to the second goal. It was also a bit of nostalgia to further fire the imagination. Laurent Koscielny’s back-post header from Mustafi’s near-post flick-on is the sort of thing we’ve seen so often at this club, except with the roles filled by Tony Adams and Steve Bould.

The ease and familiarity of it all was just another reason for Allardyce to worry. For a manager hired to offer the ultimate safety net, Everton didn’t look secure. Ramsey was again allowed the freedom of the half to power in Arsenal’s third on 21 minutes, before Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang offered their own throwback to the Borussia Dortmund days for the latter’s dinked first goal. Aubameyang got the goal, Ramsey ended up getting the hat-trick but it was Mkhitaryan that should have got most of the praise.

He looked a player released, and refreshed. This was initial evidence of the idea he needs soft guidance rather than a hard edge to get the best out of him.

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Then again, you could argue that was always going to be the case against an atrociously soft Everton who have now lost five of their last seven. A lot of the talk in the first few weeks of Allardyce's reign was about the Goodison Park support naturally wanting a bit more to their football, but here there was just nothing. If Allardyce can't offer that, what is he for?

The one thing that can be said for the great survival specialist is that his last salvage job at Sunderland followed a similar pattern. He first got an initial improvement through those first principles, only to then naturally plateau and struggle a bit, before enjoying the deeper effect of his dependable coaching. That was perhaps hinted at with a late rally here and a goal through substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin, although it might just as much have been down to the fact the game was over.

As regards reality and expectations, some might think it appropriate that Everton’s goal was scored by the man who replaced Theo Walcott, on his - typically - frustrating return to Arsenal. Walcott wasted one first-half chance that brought some unfair jeers from the crowd given his commitment, although they were quickly quietened by those offering gratitude - and not for that miss.

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His former teammate Ramsey couldn’t miss late on, as he guided in his third goal and Arsenal's fifth thanks to yet another Mkhitaryan assist.

It was his first hat-trick for the club, and you could forgive those here thinking it was another sign of a new lease of life. It’s just that kind of talk is by now old hat at this club. Reality often intervenes, as was the case when an injured Petr Cech had to be taken off.

All of that can wait, though. The reality right now is that the new signings - including Ozil - took off in terms of their play. There was fire to go with the smoke.