Arsenal celebrated the 21st anniversary of Arsene Wenger's appointment by easily beating Brighton 2-0 in the Premier league on Sunday.
Alex Iwobi was set up by Alexis Sanchez's back-heel to double Arsenal's lead at the start of the second half after Nacho Monreal's opener.
"It was a great team play," Iwobi told the BBC. "I didn't think Alexis would find me but it shows the skill he has.
"He is capable of doing anything. To have eyes in the back of his head and back-heel to me was amazing."
Arsenal, without a league title since 2004, extended its unbeaten run in all competitions to seven matches to move up to fifth in the standings. The north london club is six points adrift of the early pacesetters - Manchester rivals City and United.
Brighton is six points behind Arsenal in 14th place after seven matches of its first top-flight campaign in 34 years.
Facing a Brighton team lacking impetus without a single striker on the pitch, Arsenal did not have to overexert itself to see off the south-coast side at the Emirates Stadium.
The visitors' plan looked to be to absorb and frustrate but Arsenal could have been ahead within three minutes as Alexandre lacazette lashed a half-volley against the post.
It prompted a relentless spell of early pressure and just after a quarter of an hour, Brighton cracked.
lacazette was fouled by Jose Izquierdo on the right side of the box and then kept the resulting cross alive by heading the ball back in off the line. As Brighton's defenders claimed for a goal-kick, Shkodran Mustafi and Hector Bellerin had shots blocked before Monreal finally found space to poke in his first league goal since March 2013 in the 16th minute.
Forced to attack, Brighton was far better from then on and could even have gone in level at half time.
An impressively choreographed free-kick between Pascal Gross, Dale Stephens and Solly March ended with the latter crashing a long-range drive against goalkeeper Petr Cech's post and Davy Propper curled over from close range just before the interval.
In between, Arsenal had looked dangerous on the counter and the match became less even. It was little surprise when Iwobi doubled the hosts' advantage with a vintage Arsenal goal 11 minutes into the second half.
Iwobi began the move with a pass inside to Sanchez. Sanchez fired the ball to lacazette who in turn fed Aaron Ramsey. Ramsey popped the ball back into the path of Sanchez, who held off a swarm of Brighton defenders before digging out a superb back-heel to free Iwobi. He slammed the finish past goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
Sanchez was almost unplayable in the latter stages and twice could have scored himself but for a pair of tame finishes. Wenger, who was hired by Arsenal on Oct. 1 1996, will hope there is more to come.
DE BRUYNE STARS AS CITY BEAT CHElSEA
london: Kevin De Bruyne capped a dominant performance from Manchester City with a brilliant long-range goal in a 1-0 victory at Chelsea in the English Premier league on Saturday.
The midfielder exchanged passes with Gabriel Jesus before shooting left-footed from just outside the area in the 67th minute, for a goal that earned unbeaten City a sixth win from seven games and kept the team in first place on goal difference from Manchester United.
The goal would have been extra sweet for De Bruyne, who was sold by Chelsea in January 2014 after 18 months at Stamford Bridge. He made just nine appearances and never felt he was given a real chance before asking to be sold for the sake of his career.
Chelsea, which lost star striker Alvaro Morata to an apparent left hamstring injury in the 35th, was overwhelmed by the visitors' passing and movement in what will be regarded as a signature win in City's toughest game of the season.
"It sends out a big message," City left back Fabian Delph said. "We needed to come out on top. There's a togetherness in the team and you could see that on the pitch."
City coach Pep Guardiola said the way the team played was as important as the result, with City having almost 70 percent possession in both halves and creating the best of the chances.
"They could not play and had to do long balls," Guardiola said.
Without lone striker Morata, who was replaced by a midfielder in Willian, Chelsea had no outlet up front and City easily picked off possession before attacking in waves.
"It's very difficult to play this type of game," Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said.
Gabriel Jesus had a volley cleared off the line by Antonio Rudiger after De Bruyne's goal.
It was Chelsea's first loss in the league since its opening-day home defeat to Burnley. Chelsea is six points beind the Manchester clubs.
24-PASS MOVE lEADS BURNlEY TO WIN
lIVERPOOl: Jeff Hendrick completed a 24-pass move to give Burnley a 1-0 victory at Everton on Sunday and extend the team's best start to a Premier league season.
Hendrick easily side-stepped Morgan Schneiderlin in the penalty area to slide home a low shot in the 21st minute after Scott Arfield and Stephen Ward combined down the left toward the end of the flowing advance.
It delivered the latest impressive away result for Sean Dyche's side on top of an opening-day win at Chelsea and draws at Tottenham and liverpool. Burnley climbed to sixth place, seven points behind the Manchester pacesetters City and United.
Pressure is mounting on Everton coach Ronald Koeman heading into the two-week international break after a fourth loss in seven matches despite spending 140 million pounds ($190 million) in the summer transfer window.