Arsenal 5 Crystal Palace 0
The Gunners welcomed Crystal Palace to The Emirates, looking to avoid a third consecutive home defeat for the first time in over 100 years. Arsenal had enjoyed a winter break in Dubai while Crystal Palace had no such luxury, falling foul of an FA Cup replay against Everton at Goodison Park.
That said, Mikel Arteta’s side had been dumped out of the cup by Liverpool in North London, to make it four defeats for Arsenal over the Christmas fixture schedule. Roy Hodgson was looking over his shoulder with fans, and potentially the owners, considering whether he was the right man for the job.
Arteta’s side piled on the pressure early on and forced a corner. As the ball was swung in by Rice, Gabriel towered over Richards to head home. It was debatable as to whether he fouled the Crystal Palace man but neither the referee nor VAR saw fit to disallow the goal.
The visitors were defending horrendously at set pieces and as Saka floated a corner to the back post, it was flicked on by the Palace defender and struck Lerma, not that he knew anything about it. The ball headed back towards his own goal and struck the upright before Henderson gathered the ball.
Credit: @Arsenal
Arsenal continued to play the ball out from the back like it was a five-a-side game. Raya mishit a clearance, straight to Lerma, who hit it first time towards goal. The Gunners’ keeper saved acrobatically but the need for the block was all of his own doing.
At the start of the season, having signed the former Brentford keeper, Mikel Arteta said he wanted two goalkeepers capable of being the first choice. As far as we have seen so far, they have yet to arrive in North London and instead we are left entertained by The Chuckle Brothers.
The hosts forced another corner and Saka’s ball towards the back post was once again met by Gabriel before ending in the back of the net. It looked like the Brazilian’s second goal, until you saw the replay, where his header was more of a clearance off the line before it struck Henderson and went in.
As a result, it was awarded as an own goal against the Palace keeper. Gabriel is a strange beast. In the space of 37 minutes, the defender had three clean-cut chances. One he headed in, the other went off at a right angle wide of the goal and the third was heading for a goal kick before it struck the keeper and went in.
The second half started with the visitors having their first real chance of the game. Eze picked the ball up in the middle of the park before charging forward and trying his luck from distance. It was heading into the bottom corner before the Spanish Drake lookalike got down to tip it around the post.
The Gunners continued to press and as a ball was drifted into the box, Jesus went to the floor like he had been thrown out of an aeroplane. Paul Tierney did not think it was a penalty and the replay showed that the Brazilian was nothing more than an embarrassment to the game.
Credit: @Arsenal
Gabriel Jesus is a man who has a constant expression on his face like he has just come home to find his wife in bed with his best friend, but ironically, he is the person who goes down easier than a U-Boat surrounded by depth charges.
From a Crystal Palace corner, Raya caught the ball and threw it out to Jesus, who slotted a sublime pass in behind the visitors’ defence. Trossard picked the ball up, checked inside to his right foot and smashed the ball into the goal to surely seal the win.
The visitors offered very little in terms of threat in the final third and the travelling fans unfurled banners telling the manager and owners what they felt about the club. The Eagles lost the ball in Arsenal’s half and two passes later, Martinelli was slotting it in the bottom corner of the goal.
In all fairness, Crystal Palace were nothing more than an Instagram filter in North London. They were just making Arsenal look good. If you focus on the scoreline, it looks impressive, if you watched the game however you would not fear playing Arteta’s side.
Moments later, it was a case of Groundhog Day, as Arsenal scored an identical goal. Martinelli finished to grab his added time brace for The Gunners. For fans who went to grab a beer and missed his first goal, this was like a glitch in the matrix repeating itself, literally.
Mikel Arteta’s side took the three points, moving two points behind leaders Liverpool and the likes of Rio Ferdinand spoke about how their title challenge is back on. In reality, the only way Arsenal are going to win a title this season is if they sign Luke Littler.
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