Arsenal have returned to winning ways in the Premier League after beating Crystal Palace for the second time in a week.
After drawing their last two league games - against Fulham and Everton - the Gunners arrived at Selhurst Park knowing they couldn’t afford to drop more points with title rivals Liverpool and Chelsea not in action until Sunday.
Furthermore, the north London outfit had slipped a place in the table ahead of kick-off following Nottingham Forest’s impressive win away at Brentford.
The big Arsenal team news was the inclusion of Gabriel Jesus. After the Brazilian scored a hat-trick against Palace when the two sides met in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night so it was a easy decision for Mikel Arteta.
One that was vindicated twice inside the opening 15 minutes as Jesus scored a brace - either side of Ismaila Sarr’s equaliser - to end his Premier League goalscoring drought that had stretched all the way back to January.
The striker was inches away from completing a first-half hat-trick when his brilliant header came back off the post, though Kai Havertz was on hand to convert the rebound to give the visitors a two-goal cushion at the break.
Gabriel Martinelli makes it FOUR! 👊 pic.twitter.com/QxHjfwOWUz
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 21, 2024
Palace came out flying at the beginning of the second half and looked the more likely to score the next goal but the Gunners had David Raya to thank for twice keeping out efforts from Sarr and also denying Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Gabriel Martinelli added a fourth on the hour mark before Declan Rice netted his first Premier League goal of the season to complete the rout and now Arsenal will sit back and hope for a favour from Everton and Tottenham on Sunday.
The one negative was the injury to Bukayo Saka in the first-half. Holding his hand up instantly as soon as he crossed the ball, he headed straight down the tunnel for treatment with a suspected hamstring issue.
