Rooney had put the Toffees in front with a superb
curling effort past Petr Cech, before the Gunners replied with goals from Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil.
At the other end, Olivier Giroud and Joel Campbell, making his first Premier League start with all other right wing options injured, both
curled efforts past the far post from presentable left - footed chances.
Not exact matches
Aguero then put the result out of sight with fabulous 25 - yard
effort which sailed
past the Basel «keeper, with German Gundogan then bagging his second and City's fourth of the game just after half time with a fantastic
curling effort.
Playmaker David Silva had an
effort blocked, whilst Aleksandar Kolarov hit an excellent free - kick which narrowly
curled past the post.
The impressive Januzaj collected the ball on the edge of the box and swiveled
past a number of challenges before he
curled a shot to the right of Oblak but the
effort lacked power and it was a comfortable save for the keeper.
Townsend would round off the first 45's proceedings by sending a
curling effort whistling inches
past the post, leaving Town pondering what it could do to turn the tide on a fresh night in the Capital.
Messi finally got in on the act after 57 minutes by cushioning Alexis Sanchez's drilled pass with the instep before
curling a beautiful
effort past Courtois from the edge of the area.
He hit a wonderful
curled effort that sailed
past Thibaut Courtois, and the King Power Stadium was rocking.